Ty Lue spoke for the frustration of Clipper Nation in Phoenix on Tuesday night when the coach bemoaned another lost season with his two biggest stars on the bench.
“It’s always in the back of your mind… ‘What if?’ Lue said.
Except he was asking the wrong question.
It should be, “What now?”
And the answer should be, in the wake of the first-round loss to the Suns, the Clippers need to break up a one-two punch that has continuously smacked them in the face.
Trade Paul George. Trade Kawhi Leonard. Heck, trade them both, pick up two reliable and available stars, and build on the kind of young and gutsy effort that was so impressive against the Suns.
Trade them even though you want to march a glittery band into the new arena in 2024. Trade them because fans are tired of all the injuries. They’re sick of all the load management. New ticket holders for the new digs want new hope, and only an implosion of the current locker room will deliver that.
Granted, it could be impossible to trade them considering they both will make $45.6 million next season, both are in their 30s and both are plenty beat up.
If that’s the case and you’re really forced to run this nightmare back one more year, don’t — don’t! — give them the contract extension for which they are eligible. Don’t even think about it. An extension for either would simply extend the Clipper Nation’s pain.
Yes, the Clippers are a championship team when George and Leonard play together, but they’re rarely together. They were on the court for only 38 of the team’s 87 games this season. Their 24-14 record during that time was basically meaningless because, once again, they couldn’t do it together when it counted.
For four straight years they haven’t done it together when it counted. When is owner Steve Ballmer going to say enough is enough? He wasn’t afraid to pull the plug on Doc Rivers and Lob City. What is stopping him now? This latest debacle should be the final straw.
On March 21, George sprained his knee and disappeared. On April 20, after two games of the Phoenix series, it was announced that Leonard had sprained his knee and he also disappeared. It was later revealed that Leonard tore the meniscus, quieting critics who ripped him for not playing hurt, but his absence nevertheless finished the Clippers season.
Anyone who watched the Phoenix series could see that with Leonard, who is arguably the league’s best active playoff player when healthy, the Clippers would have won that series. The new-look Suns are still trying to figure things out with their lack of depth and defense, and the Clippers could have taken full advantage.
If the Clippers had beaten the Suns, there appeared to be a decent chance George would have returned for the next round, and with those two in the lineup? Crazy as it sounds, they could have won the NBA championship.
They’re that deep. They’re that versatile. They’re coached that well. They have everything.
Yet, without full use of Leonard and George, they have nothing.
Since both arrived in that giddy summer of 2019, those two have essentially done nothing.
Ballmer is a terrific owner, one of the best in sports. He has given his organization everything to succeed. The Clippers are the second-highest paid team in the sport. Their intense in-game production is the most fun in town. That new joint in Inglewood is supposed to be spectacular.
After years of ridicule, the Clippers are one of those few organizations that seemingly does everything right.
That’s why they cannot let the presence of George and Leonard keep doing them wrong.
They cannot afford to have two players who require regular season load management show up injured when they are finally needed for every game.
They cannot pay nearly $100 million annually to players who simply aren’t healthy enough to provide a sizable return on the investment.
Wouldn’t you rather see a Clippers team led by hard-charging younger players who show up and show out and let Lue guide them to greatness?
Don’t you identify with Norman Powell and Terance Mann and Ivica Zubac?
Wouldn’t you cheer for a superstar like them instead of one who spends his time in street clothes?
Russell Westbrook defied critics like this one and was a brilliant late-season addition, but they probably can’t afford to re-sign him. To enhance the culture, the Clippers have to do it via trade, and they have the goods to make it happen.
Start with Leonard. He’ll be only 32 in June, but already he might be too physically broken down to be great again.
He doesn’t play consistently. He doesn’t lead. He rarely talks. He is the anti-Ballmer, and it is so strange that the franchise continues to bend over backwards to accommodate a player who is neither their face nor their voice nor anything other than an occasional rush of adrenaline.
After the season ended Tuesday night, Leonard did not meet with reporters. Since he was injured last week, he has not met with reporters. Because the Clippers don’t do team-wide interviews like their hallway rival Lakers, there are no announced plans for him to meet with reporters.
It is understandable that Leonard would not want to talk while the Clippers were still engaged in the series. But now that the season is over, doesn’t he owe the fans an explanation of what happened… especially since there were no obvious signs of when he actually suffered the injury?
In terms of fan engagement, Leonard is a fat zero. In terms of on-court consistent impact, he hasn’t been much better.
In 2020, he was one of the biggest complainers on a bubble team that blew a three-game-to-one lead to Denver and cost Los Angeles a monumental playoff series between the two hometown teams. He didn’t want to be in Orlando. His irritation led to a locker room disintegration.
In 2021 he tore up his knee in the postseason and, through no fault of his, once again cost the Clippers a legitimate shot at the title.
In 2022, he missed the entire season, but fans were sure he would be ready for this season. He wasn’t. He played great in the three months after January and was dominant in the first two games against Phoenix and then — poof! – he was gone.
George really hasn’t been around much more. Of the 307 regular season games during his four years in LA, George has missed 118. His absences seem mitigated by his willingness to serve as the accessible and amiable face of the team, but he still is not spending enough time on the court, and the team is clearly suffering because of it.
George spoke to reporters earlier this week in his own version of an exit interview, and he was adamant that he and Leonard, who came here as basically a package deal, should be allowed to stay together.
“We just had a short window,” he said. “We’ve seen when we’re at our best with everybody healthy and what we’re capable of. We just, you know, again — small window of not being able to … put it all together at the same time for a long period. But I think it’s enough to go forward and be very optimistic of what we can be in years to come.”
It has, indeed, been a small window. But now that window has closed.
In case of emergency, break glass.
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.