NBA Playoffs – 5 questions about the LA Clippers: Has the Kawhi Leonard/Paul George era finally failed?

Also, what’s next for Russell Westbrook? And why are the Clippers actually the big losers of the new collective agreement?

Were the Clippers really a Contender?

First off, hats off to those clippers. Without Paul George, Coach Ty Lue’s team was underdogs against the Suns, but the Clippers stole Game 1 in Phoenix and ultimately had chances to extend the streak even without Kawhi Leonard. That didn’t work out and so the Clippers only won three playoff series in four years with PG-13 and Kawhi.

Of course it’s annoying that we didn’t see the Clippers in full force again, but at the same time it’s also our own fault. The Clippers sleepwalked through the regular season for months and failed to create a better starting position. It would have been possible to avoid the Suns and survive a round without the two stars.

“What encourages me is that if Kawhi and PG were healthy, we haven’t lost a series,” Lue said afterwards. That’s true under his direction, but there was also the 2020 bubble when LA squandered a 3-1 lead against Denver under Doc Rivers with a full band. With the Clippers, theory and practice just don’t go together.

LA Clippers: The regular season was a disappointment

With this roster, it was a disappointment that the regular season only won 44 games and was in danger of ending up in the play-in again. Before the season, there were quite a few who saw LA as a favorite in the west, but this was not visible enough. Above all, offensively, a lot remained piecemeal, so that even with a luxury squad inexplicable dry spells were the rule. The Clippers were more of an ensemble than an actual team. Only in the series with the Suns did the enormous potential sometimes flash, even without Leonard. Russell Westbrook played a major role in this, but the longer the series lasted, his limitations became apparent again.

Nevertheless, despite all the prophecies of doom, the Westbrook commitment was something positive. The same applies to Eric Gordon’s trade, which, as expected, fitted perfectly into the Clippers’ construct. It’s even more annoying that we didn’t see the Clippers in full force in the playoffs. The team remains such a paper tiger and ranks with the Brooklyn Nets as one of the bigger “What if…” teams in recent years.

NBA Playoffs – Suns vs. Clippers: The series at a glance

LA Clippers: Has the Leonard/George era failed?

It hasn’t been discussed much yet, but the Clippers are getting to a point where it should at least be discussed whether this duo has a future. Three series wins in four years is a disappointing result for the huge investment the Clippers made four years ago. To bring in Leonard and George, the franchise gave up five first-round picks, Danilo Gallinari and also Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who may even be named to the All-NBA First Team in a few weeks.

It looks really bad for the Clippers on paper, but honestly, who wouldn’t have made that trade back then? Two star forwards, one reigning Finals MVP, the other a top 3 MVP candidate that year. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an ailing franchise to finally step out of its big brother’s shadow – and take risks to do so.

George and Leonard’s medical records were excellent, and it was to remain a problem over the four years. Together, the two were only on the field in 142 of a possible 347 games, which is almost 41 percent. Together, the two only completed three full playoff series – and that’s the main reason why the four years went the way they just went. 2021 could have been the year of the Clippers when they failed in the conference finals without Kawhi only at Phoenix.

Can that be repeated again? The fact is that the West was very open again this year, and little is likely to change in the coming year. Nevertheless, the injuries cannot be explained away. What’s the use of a Kawhi, soon to be 32, who’s still a top 5 player if he’s playing – but just can’t stay healthy?

Both George and Leonard can opt out of their contracts in 2024. So if the Clippers are looking to make a cut, then this summer would be the time. There should be demand, after all, with parity this season, many teams can convince themselves that they are only a Kawhi or PG-13 away from contender status.

At the same time, it doesn’t square with the ambitions of owner Steve Ballmer, who has poured copious amounts of money into the franchise since arriving nine years ago. In addition, the new arena will be ready in 2024, so the Clippers will need real stars as figureheads in order to fill them up. That’s another reason why it’s hard to imagine LA now making a U-turn and giving up the title hunt for now. There’s just one problem…

LA Clippers: How are the finances looking?

The Clippers are the most expensive team in the NBA this year. Including Eric Gordon’s non-guaranteed contract, the Clippers have nearly $202 million in payroll expenses (never seen before), which puts them a whopping $40 million above the luxury tax line. According to Bobby Marks (ESPN) would entail an additional bill of 175 million.

Ballmer has been willing to do that in the past, but with the new rules in the collective agreement (which hasn’t been signed yet), that could change. According to reports, there will be a second tax limit of $17.5 million above the salary cap, called “Apron”, in the upcoming CBA, which is around $180 million. The Clippers are significantly higher and that can lead to extreme restrictions.

However, it is still unclear whether the rules mentioned below will actually all apply from July.

LA Clippers: All contracts for 2023/24

* Player option, ** Team option, *** not guaranteed

According to reports from the well-known newsbreakers, there are the following penalties for crossing this line – however, it is not yet clear when exactly these will be installed. One can assume that this will happen piece by piece. Here is the overview:

• Teams don’t have a midlevel exception available (not even the mini-MLE)
• Teams cannot take more money in trades than they give (no cash may be used either)
• Players cannot be acquired on the buyout market.
• Teams in the “Repeater Tax” pay two more dollars for every additional dollar.
• And the most important thing: Teams above the second “apron” are not allowed to trade a first-round pick for the next seven years (from 24/25)
• If this team is further ahead in more than a year, your own first round pick automatically moves to the end of the first round

Anyone reading this will understand why the Clippers have every reason to save money. These penalties are so severe that every team should try to stay under the $180 million they are talking about. With the Clippers squad basically set for the coming year, that might not matter, but for the long-term future (with George and Leonard aging) it would be killer.

LA Clippers: What’s next for Russell Westbrook?

Who would have thought that we had to ask this question seriously? But given the circumstances, it is. Westbrook did what he did for the Clippers for so many years. It was classic Russ Ball that kept the Clippers competitive without George and Leonard. In the five games, the guard put up 23.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.4 assists with odds of 41 percent from the field and 36 percent from outside.

“We want Russ to just be himself,” Lue said after the controversial signing at the end of February. And so it was, even if that was never the Clippers’ plan. There was no alternative to “Russ Ball” without the stars, but it had clear limitations, as became clear again towards the end of the series. Still, along with Kawhi and George, Westbrook had a net rating of +5.2 in 230 minutes.

In any case, Russ wasn’t just Russ: he distributed the ball more and was quite efficient alongside the wing stars – at least in the regular season. In the playoffs, Phoenix would probably have lured Westbrook back into taking as many shots as possible. But here, too, this is all theory, it simply cannot be discussed.

However, the Clippers have to do this – and seem to want to keep Westbrook. “He saved our season,” said Lue after Game 5. And Westbrook himself seems more than satisfied with the two months. “It’s a top organization. You rarely see something like that and it was fun coming to work here every day,” explained the playmaker after the end.

The 34-year-old didn’t want to say anything about his future. The Clippers can’t offer much anyway, as we’ve already shown: it’s a maximum of 3.8 million dollars, to be precise. Will Westbrook take that? He has at least earned enough in his career, only LeBron James ($431 million), Kevin Durant (350) and Chris Paul (359) have earned more over their careers than the Clippers Guard (336).

Russell Westbrook: His stats for the LA Clippers

LA Clippers: Where is the need to catch up?

Let’s put the financial side of things aside for a moment. The fact is that the Clippers still need more stability in the build-up. Reggie Jackson and John Wall were terrible, Westbrook a clear upgrade, but also with the well-known question marks. Should Westbrook leave, Mann and Hyland remain, both non-traditional playmakers, although the Clippers were net-rated +4 with Mann as one.

At 26, Mann is also one of the younger players in the squad, and Hyland also brought a little more dynamism. The team is aging, especially on the wing, so Morris, Covington or Batum are possible trade candidates. Money can be saved here and the squad can be rejuvenated at the same time, if that is desired.

Backup center Plumlee also has no contract, and the Clippers would have to add more if they left. When it comes to possible trades, however, the Clippers don’t have much to offer. Milwaukee has the 30th draft pick this year (the clips have their own second rounder). It is quite possible that the Clippers will trade their pick, since there will certainly not be a guard in position 30 that will really help the Clippers. In 2026, the last first-round pick from the George deal will go to OKC.

So it’s quite likely that LA will start the new season with a similar roster and be part of the extended Contender circle again. It always depends on the point of view. The series with Phoenix once again underlined that the Clippers are close and could have won the series at full strength. And the Clippers will also build on that.

The alternatives are also few and far between because the chips have been in the middle since 2019.