The early October evening and a new NBA season approached when Steve Ballmer returned to the topic that has consumed his eight years of owning the Clippers.
Inside a West Adams compound hidden from the street by high walls, Ballmer turned to Baron Davis, Paul Pierce and Jamal Crawford, the former Clippers he was seated next to during a test broadcast of the team’s new streaming service. As it often does with Ballmer, the conversation turned to championships.
“My pattern,” Ballmer said, “says you’ve just got to have one of those guys.”
Pierce, whose 2008 NBA title with Boston came alongside two other All-Stars in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, spoke up.
“You have to have a guy who is considered at least a top-five player to win a championship,” he said. “So when you look at the championship teams, there’ve only been a few who’ve won it without a guy who’s considered a top-five. In our case with Boston, we had KG who was considered a top-five guy. And so Kawhi is considered that guy.”
Pierce continued: “I think that’s the common equation to a championship contender.”
“You’ve got to have a closer,” Davis said. “I think the Clippers got two closers.”
On a monitor a few feet away from their leather chairs they watched Kawhi Leonard miss a shot, only for Paul George to finish the possession with a basket.
“That’s the perfect example,” Crawford jumped in. “Because Kawhi misses a shot and the ball goes back around and PG, he gets the opportunity on the same possession, and your other closer knocks it down.”
Leonard and George’s arrival three years ago as a package deal of All-Stars was supposed to change the conversation around the Clippers, a franchise whose first four decades were spent with few postseason appearances, only for their last decade to feature repeated playoff trips and repeated disappointment.
“I think both of us kind of internally had a promise — I know I did for myself — to bring a championship here,” George said.
“We have a genuine relationship and it just carries over.”
Kawhi Leonard, regarding his partnership with Paul George on and off the court
The All-Star…