Following the NBA bubble that saw the Los Angeles Lakers become 2019-20 champions, the team received their championship rings on opening night. Their in-arena rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers, also received gifts despite failing to even make the Western Conference Finals and blowing a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets.
As per Clippers beat writer Tomer Azarly, the team was rewarded with PlayStation 5s and headphones with the boxes sitting in the locker room. Azarly tweeted a photo of the gift sitting in forward Nicolas Batum’s locker.
Of course, the stark comparison to what the Lakers received on the night became prime meme fodder on Twitter. It is important to note that the Clippers are ironically owned by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who purchased the team back in 2014 following the Donald Sterling racism scandal. During his time as Microsoft CEO from 2000 to 2014, Ballmer oversaw the development of its Xbox division into a major player in the console industry. Microsoft provided the technology behind the fan cams at the NBA bubble, seen on the walls at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex where games were played.
It also seems bizarre that a group of millionaire athletes would be receiving a gift that they can easily purchase themselves, especially considering that All-Star forward Paul George was gifted a PS5 by Sony on launch day, complete with a personalized glass case detailing his achievements. When average consumers have been reduced to literally fighting for the PS5, it speaks volumes of its scarcity among the general public compared to it being gifted to the 16 players currently on the Clippers roster.
The launch of the PS5 has been rife with supply chain issues stemming from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Besides launch day being online only to prevent physical gatherings at stores, scalpers have also been a major problem not just with the PS5, but also with the Xbox Series X/S and PC hardware launches. Scalpers have become such a concern that UK politicians have put forward a motion to ban the practice.
Besides getting the PS5s, the Clippers also won their season opener over their same-city rivals 116-109 behind 33 points from Paul George and 26 points from Kawhi Leonard.
The PlayStation 5 is available now.
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