The Future of the Los Angeles Clippers

Every year you can count on certain consistencies within the NBA.  You can count on seeing Lebron in the NBA Finals, you can count on the Chicago Bulls having the highest ticket sales per game, and you can count on the Los Angeles Clippers being knocked out of the playoffs prematurely.  Every season it appears that the Clippers might have a chance at making a solid playoff push, despite the significant competition in the Western Conference, yet every season the Clippers somehow find a way to fall short once again.

There are a few excuses you can use to explain the Clippers’ lack of playoff success.  For starters, former 2009 first overall pick out of the University of Oklahoma, Blake Griffin, has been plagued with a plethora of injuries that seem to constantly come into play in the playoffs.  His back-to-back season ending injuries in the playoffs, seen this season and last, and his three straight seasons of playing fewer than 70 games throughout the entire season have greatly prevented the Clippers from gaining any solid momentum in the playoffs without one of their core starters.   

You could also argue that the Clippers technically haven’t had the easiest matchups in the playoffs in recent years. The 2016-17 season marked the 6th straight season in which the Los Angeles Clippers earned a playoff birth.  Over these six seasons, the Clippers were either a 3 seed, 4 seed, and 5 seed in the playoffs and didn’t have the fortunate opportunity of having to play a weak 7 or 8 seed team, like the 2016-17 Portland Trailblazers, that just barely earned a spot in the playoffs.  

However, not only did the 3 seed Dallas Mavericks win the NBA Finals during the 2011-12 season, but the Clippers have had too many standout players play for their organization since 2011 to justify the fact that they have never played a playoff game later than May 22nd in franchise history.  Being led by accomplished head coach, Doc Rivers, having notable players like Eric Bledsoe, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Chris Paul, Paul Pierce (it was at the end of his career, but Pierce was able to find playoff success even during his short run with the Wizards), Jamal Crawford (arguably the greatest 6th man in modern NBA history), J.J. Reddick, and Chauncey Billups on the Clippers’ roster for at least 1 full season since 2011,  and even being owned and run by the passionate Steve Ballmer, it’s shocking to see the Clippers fall every season without fail.  

Now the Clippers have to approach the offseason and try to figure out the solution to the reoccurring problem that is the failure to reach at least the Western Conference Finals.  For starters, I would be surprised if Blake Griffin is offered to rejoin Los Angeles after next season.  His copious amount of injuries, combined with the fact that his recent play style isn’t at the same level of performance compared to that of his first few years in the league, is something that is simply not worth the price tag the Clippers have had to pay to keep Griffin on the roster.  Personally, I believe Blake should return to his home state of Oklahoma and play for the Thunder.  Their need for more support around Russell Westbrook and Power Forwards to return to their two big men style of gameplay that almost pushed them to a 2015-16 NBA Finals appearance would be easily resolved with Blake on their roster.  However, Griffin will probably return for his last year on his contract rather than using his player option to go to OKC.

Chris Paul, on the other hand, also has one year left on his contract, but will probably use his player option to take his talents somewhere else in the league.  Being one of the greatest Point Guards in league, and one of the only players in this class of elite Point Guards to never play in an NBA Finals, nonetheless a Western Conference Championship game, I can’t imagine CP3 would want to return for yet another disappointing season with the LA Clippers.  I would expect Chris Paul to take offers from San Antonio and Cleveland, who could use his unrelenting hustle based play style and his prominent performance on offense (18.1 ppg, 9.2 apg, 41.1% FG3% in the 2016-17 season alone) to help strengthen these Lebron James and Kawhi Leonard based teams.

As for the Clippers this offseason, they will try their best to convince Chris Paul to try once again at making a somewhat impressive playoff push, but after he decides to leave expect the Clippers to resign J.J. Reddick and proceed to build around one of the best defensive players the LA team has ever had on their roster, DeAndre Jordan, who holds the franchise records for most blocks (1,207) and rebounds (6,817).  Jordan’s loyalty to the Clippers was clearly put on national display during the whole Dallas Mavericks fiasco in 2015, and after becoming an NBA All-Star for the first time in his career this season, it seems apparent that the Center will spend his prime years wearing the red, white, and blue jersey.  If the Clippers truly want to finally reach the NBA Finals without having to completely rebuild their roster, they should do everything they can to trade up and take advantage of the stellar 2017 draft class.  The loss of Chris Paul may hurt the core of their team, but trading up to possibly snag a Point Guard like De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk, Dennis Smith, or even Frank Ntilinka from the draft could actually be a better option than keeping CP3, as long as their rookie Point Guard grows well within the Clippers’ system.  This recent elimination from the NBA Playoffs isn’t the end of the world for the Los Angeles Clippers, but it will definitely cause some significant changes to the team’s roster.

Written by Erik Clark