Today we look at the Los Angeles Clippers, a team that lost a star and is struggling to figure out what the immediate future holds
It wasn’t supposed to end this way. The pairing of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George was supposed to lead to championships. At the very least, it was supposed to lead to conference championship appearances. Instead it yielded three playoff series victories in five seasons. In the summer of 2019, the NBA world couldn’t believe it. One the same night, the Los Angeles Clippers, a team that has been mired in misery for its entire existence pulled off a free agent coup by signing Kawhi Leonard and trading for Paul George.
Fast forward to the summer of 2024 and that dream is dead. Kawhi is re-signed but his health question marks are more pronounced than ever. Paul George is a 76er, and the Clippers are hoping that James Harden discovers a fountain of youth amidst the myriad of toilets at the new Intuit Dome. Russell Westbrook is also gone, salary dumped to and subsequently waived by the Utah Jazz for the second time in his career. But the real loss here is Paul George more than anything.
It is difficult to replace a wing player that averages 22 points per game and shoots 41% from three, and the Clippers off-season additions of Nicholas Batum and Derrick Jone Jr will not replace that production. The Clippers have the unfortunate task of being unsure how many games Kawhi Leonard can play in a season, which is what hurts the most about George’s departure. George has had injury issues himself, but last season he played 74 games in the regular season and played all 6 games against Dallas in their first round loss. Leonard has not played in over 70 games since 2017 and only played two games against Dallas. It is quite frankly, incredibly difficult to trust Leonard to remain healthy, which places the Clippers in a tough spot.
They will no doubt rely on James Harden, who has signed a two-year extension to stay with the team. Harden was decent in his first year as a Clipper, averaging 16 points and 8 rebounds per game on 38% shooting from three. But this is not the James Harden of old, and his playoff struggles still haunt him, which is troubling for a team that has aspirations of winning playoff games.
The reality of the situation is that this is an old team that is being surpassed by a youth movement in the Western Conference. Minnesota and Oklahoma City are only getting better. Dallas got markedly better by signing Klay Thompson, and teams like Houston, New Orleans, and San Antonio are rapidly improving. At this point, the Clippers feel like a team headed in the wrong direction as they are opening their new arena.
That new arena, the aforementioned Intuit Dome, signifies a lot for the Clippers. It is a separation from sharing an arena with the Lakers and a chance to define themselves away from the purple and gold colored shadow that has plagued them for decades. Owner Steve Ballmer has indicated that he is willing to spend money, although one has to wonder if he even sees the writing on the wall with this team and wanted to keep Kawhi and Harden around to attract visitors to his new arena.
The troubling aspect is that the Clippers do not own their own picks until 2030, due to the massive haul that they gave up to Oklahoma City in the trade that got them Paul George in the first place and the trade that netted them James Harden. The trade with the Thunder specifically might go down as one of the worst trades in NBA history. The Thunder got Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who is a bonafide MVP candidate and five first round picks, one of which turned into Jalen Williams who is the Thunder’s second best player.
Most people would have done a trade to get Paul George even despite all of that. The NBA is a stars league, and the Clippers went out and got stars to help them win in the present at the cost of their future. Because they do not control their picks it is likely that they will try to be as competitive as they possibly can to avoid the added dread of losing another potential superstar. Ultimately, the Clippers will be a good team next year that will likely continue the streak of a winning record (the last time the Clippers were below 500 was in 2011) with between 42-48 wins. It just isn’t good enough to go very far in this Western Conference.
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