It’s sometimes hard to believe that it wasn’t long ago that the Los Angeles Clippers were maybe the noisiest team in the NBA.
When their executives weren’t attending Raptors games — this in the shameless, season-long stalking of Kawhi Leonard that led up to the league-shaking summer of 2019 — team owner Steve Ballmer was getting the side-eye from his billionaire cohorts in the NBA owners’ meetings after Leonard signed with the Clippers and NBA commissioner Adam Silver, perhaps by pure coincidence, acknowledged accusations of free-agent deal sweeteners that stretched outside the salary cap.
But after Ballmer whooped and hollered through the introductory press conference that welcomed Leonard and handpicked running mate Paul George, and the Clippers opened the season as the Las Vegas favourites to win the championship, the hype proved outsized.