The Clipper Curse Lives On
Luka Doncic might have just ended Kawhi Leonard’s LA career.
One day after Doncic rained 39 points on Leonard’s Clippers during a 127–121 victory, the air of defeatism and frustration has never been thicker over LA’s forlorn hoops franchise. LA’s infamous smog looks more like a light misty day in comparison. Shakespeare could have written a compelling tragedy on these Clippers.
The worst part? Leonard scored 41. Paul George, supposed to be the Scottie Pippen to Leonard’s Michael Jordan? 28 points. Neither looked particularly bad or inefficient. So, where do these Clips go from here?
The easy answer is a long, hard teardown. Think Brooklyn in the wake of the failed Garnett-Pierce experiment. The idea that the Leonard-George pairing could turn out to be as bad (if not worse) than that Nets era is astounding, but it is a reality we are hurtling towards at lightspeed. These Clippers are a talented, but utterly discombobulated team that has seemingly been infected by the generational Clippers curse that has plagued the franchise since it’s Buffalo days. At least Chris Paul and Blake Griffin gave us a fun “lob city” era; the high water mark of Leonard’s Clippers are his New Balance commercials that declared LA was his town. Talk about aging badly.
Worse than Leonard’s future and reputation is the startling reality of the Clippers future if Kawhi evacuates the ship. George would almost definitely be traded; he may even be moved if Kawhi stays. The remaining roster would highlight Marcus Morris, Ivica Zubac, Patrick Beverley, Luke Kennard, Terance Mann, and Serge Ibaka. In the west, and probably in the east for that matter, that’s a lottery team in the making. Amazingly, that isn’t the worst part. An organizational rebuild would be in the making in that scenario, except for the fact that in the process making their current roster they no longer have control of any of their own first round picks through 2027.
2027.
That’s six years in which the Clippers will, at best, be selecting 31st in the NBA draft. High level talent usually is gone by the 10–15 pick range, and drafting Draymond Green’s in the draft is incredibly difficult and requires a ton of luck. Not to mention, an A+ organization to develop those picks to reach their peak. Under Steve Ballmer the Clippers are much better prepared for that than they were under Donald Sterling, but not even the best owners in the league can reliably count on second round picks to build a winner. A potential Paul George trade could recuperate some of those lost picks, but given the reality that George will probably go to a contender those picks would likely turn into late first rounders in the twenties. Needless to say, but Zion Williamson isn’t getting drafted at 27th overall.
The best case scenario is what Brooklyn did after their own disastrous rebuild. Make no mistake; they were awful for many years after Garnett and Pierce left. They were never truly back to being contenders until they landed Durant, Irving and Harden. But they landed those three because of an infrastructure that was built over several seasons by Kenny Atkinson and GM Sean Marks, who maximized talent and turned fringe roster guys like Joe Harris and Spencer Dinwiddie into plus starters on good teams. DeAngelo Russell went from LA castoff to a major trade asset under Atkinson’s tutelage, and Caris Levert, drafted 20th overall, turned into a good enough player to be involved as a major piece in the James Harden trade. So did Jarrett Allen, drafted 22nd overall.
That is the absolute best case scenario. Stories of teams wandering the wilderness of mediocrity for years, even decades, are abundant in the NBA, as the Clippers are well aware.
As for Kawhi, his legacy is set as a Hall of Famer and one of the greatest perimeter defenders of all time. But for stretches during his runs with the Spurs and Raptors, he was compared to Michael Jordan as a playoff competitor. He was considered one of the few players in the league that could single-handedly carry a franchise to at least the conference title game, if not further, when healthy.
Now, down 2–0 to Doncic and the Mavs one year after their horrendous second round exit from the bubble, Leonard’s career reputation is hitting a crisis point. Leonard is still widely considered one of the league’s best, but the separation between him and LeBron James has rarely been greater than it is right now. His bold claim that LA was his town after landing with the Clippers has backfired spectacularly; the Lakers won the 2020 title and are widely considered favorites to make it again this year while the Clips watched from home last year, and are on track to do so again this year. Leonard very well could jump ship after this season, and his career legacy would largely ride on how he rebounded from these past two years in LA.
As for Paul George, the criticisms have reached a fever pitch. Mocking calls of “Playoff P” (and more recently the “Pandemic P” variation) have rained all over social media as fans continue to ridicule his lack of success in clutch moments, some deserved and some not. Regardless, if the Clippers do in fact lost this series to the Mavs and Kawhi decides to opt out, George’s reputation is bound to crater even further. George is still a massively talented player who is one of the best two-way forwards in the league, so demand for him will likely be high if he does in fact hit the trade market. But he is never likely to regain the level of popularity and appreciation he had while in Indiana, or OKC for that matter, which sadly could become the story of George’s career post-LA.
If LA in fact loses to the Mavs, history could eventually treat the Clips kinder if Doncic truly becomes the best player of his generation. But no matter what, a loss to the Mavs in this series can be seen as nothing less than an abject failure on behalf of the Clippers organization.
The Curse is alive and well.
