Apple products could be endangered species around the Clippers

The Clippers have a new rival under owner Steve Ballmer, one that cannot fluster them with cheap shots on the court or end their season in heartbreaking fashion.

Of course, that doesn’t make Apple products such as the iPad and iPhone any less vexing to Ballmer, the longtime former Microsoft executive who famously bars his own family from using the devices of his primary technological competitor.

Ballmer told Reuters on Wednesday that team-issued Apple devices would likely be phased out.

“Most of the Clippers are on Windows, some of the players and coaches are not,” Ballmer said. “And Doc [Rivers, the team’s coach] kind of knows that’s a project. It’s one of the first things he said to me: ‘We are probably going to get rid of these iPads, aren’t we?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, we probably are.’ But I promised we would do it during the off-season.”

That means there’s probably no need to transfer all that game footage stored on iPads until next summer. Apple devices used by players and coaches could eventually be replaced by Microsoft gadgets such as the Surface tablet.

A team source said the move would not impact player or employee personal devices, though it probably wouldn’t be wise to whip out an iPhone at team headquarters in Playa Vista.