Run it back? The hopeless Clippers may not have a better option
Death, taxes … and injuries derailing the LA Clippers’ championship hopes; those are the sureties of life in Los Angeles.
It’s been that way since the Clippers transitioned from perennial also-rans to annual contenders during the Lob City era headlined by Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. History continues to repeat itself with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George now leading the team.
George, who played only 56 games this season, sprained his right knee with less than three weeks remaining in the regular season and ended up missing the Clippers’ first-round series against the high-powered Suns. Leonard, who made only 52 regular-season appearances, reportedly tore the meniscus in his right knee during that series against Phoenix. He was forced to miss Games 3-5 after looking like the best player on the court, if not the planet, in Games 1 and 2.
“Our two best players got hurt,” a defeated Tyronn Lue told reporters after the Clippers were eliminated by Phoenix in Game 5. “Take the two best players off any team in the league and see if they can win in the playoffs against the team that’s picked to win it.”
Valid as it may be, Lue’s point rings hollow when the Clippers are the only team for which its two best players getting hurt is the norm rather than a freak occurrence. In 24 playoff games as the Clippers’ head coach, Lue’s had the luxury of having both Leonard and George available for 11 of them.
In four years with the Clippers, neither Leonard nor George has even cracked the 60-game mark in a season, and the duo has only logged 118 regular-season games together. The Clippers have played just three playoff series with both stars in the lineup from start to finish, and in the lone postseason campaign they both started and finished, L.A. blew a 3-1 series lead against the Denver Nuggets in the 2020 Western Conference semifinals. The embarrassing nature of that defeat cost former head coach Doc Rivers his job and led to the hiring of Lue.
After overcoming some early hiccups against the Dallas Mavericks in the 2021 playoffs, Leonard and George looked poised to finally get the Clippers over the hump. Then Leonard tore his right ACL in Game 4 of the second round against the Utah Jazz. George carried the Clippers to the franchise’s first conference finals appearance that spring, but L.A. fell in six games to Phoenix, and any excitement over the team finally turning a postseason corner was tempered by knowledge that Leonard would likely miss the entire 2021-22 campaign.
Already without Leonard, an elbow injury limited George to 31 games that season. The resilient Clippers still managed a winning record (42-40) and ended up in the 2022 play-in tournament. But following a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 7-seed vs. 8-seed matchup, their playoff hopes were dashed when George was ruled out of the final play-in game after entering pandemic-era health and safety protocols.
By the time this season came to another bitterly disappointing end, even the team’s beloved former play-by-play voice – a beacon of positivity through the franchise’s leanest years – had noticed how listless the Clippers looked with Leonard and George in the mix.
It’s hard to overstate how grossly the Clippers have underachieved since moving heaven, earth, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to acquire George and Leonard in 2019. Sure, the team has gone a whopping 83-35 with both players in the lineup, but no one’s debating how dominant the Clippers can be when Leonard and George suit up together. The issue is that they’ll never suit up together often enough for the Clippers to challenge for a championship.
When they sold the farm to acquire George – and by extension, to secure Leonard’s services – the Clippers knew anything less than at least one title would be seen as a failure. Four years later, they’d probably settle for one measly Finals appearance.
Wagering everything on Leonard and George was perfectly defensible in the summer of 2019. While Leonard had a spotty injury history, he was also coming off of his second Finals MVP award. George was coming off a third-place finish in MVP voting and had missed no more than seven games in seven of the previous eight years when the Clippers traded SGA, Danilo Gallinari, and control of up to seven first-round draft picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder for him.
But between the 2020 collapse against Denver, the injury-riddled seasons that followed, and Gilgeous-Alexander blossoming into an MVP-level superstar at 24 years old, the trade has become an unmitigated disaster.
What’s worse, there’s no way out of this mess for L.A.
Already devoid of draft capital, blue-chip prospects, or cap space, the Clippers’ ability to improve will likely be hampered further by the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement. As one of three teams projected to be over the second tax apron next season (along with the Warriors and Heat), the Clippers won’t have access to the taxpayer mid-level exception. The team also won’t be able to sign buyout candidates whose pre-waiver salary exceeded the non-taxpayer exception. That new rule would’ve prevented the Clippers from adding Russell Westbrook this season.
Though his shot selection and shot-making remain suspect, the former MVP fit in surprisingly well after moving down the hall from the Lakers’ locker room. Westbrook gave the Clippers a transition presence and provided some much-needed playmaking juice. He even played inspired defense for the first time in years. Remarkable as it would’ve seemed a couple of months ago, re-signing the 34-year-old might now be the Clippers’ top offseason priority. That says as much about the team’s lack of flexibility as it does about Westbrook’s resurgence, though.
If Westbrook and reserve big man Mason Plumlee walk as free agents, the Clippers would be in tough to find suitable replacements. Even if both midseason acquisitions return, L.A. could still use upgrades, especially at power forward. Marcus Morris, Nicolas Batum, and Robert Covington are all fading veterans, yet they’re also set to earn a combined $40.5 million next season.
Then again, the supporting cast wasn’t the issue. Team owner Steve Ballmer reportedly spent $350 million on this group between salaries and tax penalties, and the Clippers’ role players were good enough to help Leonard and George compete had the team’s two stars been in the trenches with them. As usual, they were on the bench in street clothes instead.
Meaningful improvement this summer appears to be off the table, but veering in the other direction doesn’t make sense either, and not just because the Clippers are slated to open a new arena in 2024. Trading Leonard and George would fast-track a rebuild, but that would be a tall and pointless task when the Clippers don’t control their own first-round pick until 2027.
Some may point to the Brooklyn Nets as an example of how the Clippers can proceed, as the Nets traded Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving despite not having control of all their own draft picks. But Brooklyn had already started recouping some draft capital by trading James Harden a year earlier, and the Nets had promising young pieces like Nic Claxton and Cam Thomas in place before adding Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson, among others.
With both George and Leonard down to the final guaranteed year of their contracts before player options in 2024, neither is going to fetch the type of haul Brooklyn received from Phoenix for Durant. Not to mention that youngsters like Terance Mann, Bones Hyland, Ivica Zubac, and Amir Coffey are unlikely to keep L.A. competitive enough to avoid forfeiting a top-tier lottery pick to OKC.
Meanwhile, trading just one of Leonard or George would be a half-measure. The Clippers would still be banking on an oft-injured star staying healthy, and though their supporting cast might get deeper, it would also come with less upside.
It’s preposterously wishful thinking, but the Clippers’ best shot at a title remains keeping the band together and hoping Leonard and George can finally stay healthy in 2023-24. Even with Leonard’s latest knee injury already hanging ominously over next season, what other options do they have?
What started as an exciting partnership with seemingly endless possibilities has become a stale marriage of convenience with one very predictable outcome. Whether they admit it to themselves or not, the Clippers know how this is going to end again next year. They just can’t really do anything about it.
Joseph Casciaro is theScore’s senior content producer.
