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Amid all the Western Conference drama — the gambling scandal that rocked the Blazers, the Mavericks firing their general manager, a disgruntled Ja Morant on the Grizzlies, the Pelicans axing their coach and another atrocious start for the Kings — the under-investigation Clippers have begun the season 4-10.
They are bad, tied for the West’s 11th-best record, owners of a -4.6 net rating that has them on pace for a 29-win season. They are one of the NBA’s most expensive rosters and its oldest team by a fairly wide margin. And they owe their first-round draft pick — a potential lottery selection — to, of all teams, the Thunder.
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So, where do the Clippers go from here? (On the basketball court, we mean. They have separate issues off the floor, where the league is currently investigating them for, mainly, alleged salary cap circumvention.)
They can bank on the fact that, over the final six weeks of last regular season, they were arguably the conference’s top team, compiling league bests of an 18-3 record and a +13.3 net rating — drawing dead even with the eventual champion Thunder in that span. In the first round of the playoffs, they lost a seven-game series to the Nuggets, who took Oklahoma City to seven games. The Clips were right there.
The Clippers are leaning heavily on a 36-year-old James Harden. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
(Maddie Meyer via Getty Images)
And they theoretically got better over the summer, trading away Norman Powell in a move that made way for a trade for John Collins and the signings of one-time All-Stars Bradley Beal and Brook Lopez. They were sound decisions, presuming Beal could replace some level of Powell’s production and adding some versatility in the frontcourt around Ivica Zubac. The Clippers were even deeper, at least on paper.
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Then, Beal fractured his hip, not that he was any great shakes to begin with. Lopez, a 37-year-old 7-footer, has very much looked his age. And Collins has been who he has been for nine seasons, never quite fitting in as a more traditional power forward. He has not been spacing the floor the way they needed, shooting 33.3%…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/how-bad-are-the-clippers-theyre-going-nowhere–and-they-cant-even-tank-194932429.html
Author : Ben Rohrbach
Publish date : 2025-11-18 19:49:00
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