Steve Ballmer takes shot at Chris Paul over infamous tunnel incident

Aug 18, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer at press conference at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

There are many things about the Los Angeles Clippers’ future arena that excite team owner Steve Ballmer. One of them is that there will be no secret hallways that take you to the locker rooms.

Ballmer recently took ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk on a tour of the Inglewood, Calif., construction site where the Intuit Dome is being built. While showing the reporter around, Ballmer motioned to where the locker rooms will be. He joked that there will be no secret entrances to them.

You can see the comments below at around the 1:15 mark:

PART 1: Steve Ballmer took me inside the construction site of the Intuit Dome and we talked about the Clippers’ finally having their own home complete with a Wall of sound and no secret hallways and how the dome is “another statement that says, ‘Hey look, we're nobody’s brother” pic.twitter.com/8Z4VkAIRzi

— Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) July 23, 2022

“Let’s just say that we know there are back halls at Staples … We don’t want that. We don’t want any back hallways to locker rooms,” Ballmer said.

Ballmer was making a lighthearted reference to an ugly incident that took place between the Clippers and Houston Rockets during the 2017-18 season. L.A. beat the Rockets 113-102 in what was Chris Paul’s first game against his former team. The game got out of hand at the end and multiple players were ejected. After both teams left the court, Paul supposedly led some Rockets players through a secret hallway to confront the Clippers in their locker room.

The Intuit Dome is scheduled to open in 2024. If Paul is still playing and wants to get into the Clippers’ locker room, he’s going to have to use the main entrance like everyone else.

H/T Clutch Points