INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Clippers’ days as the biggest losers in professional sports are long gone, and this NBA All-Star weekend was supposed to be a time to celebrate it.
The team that spent its first four decades of existence as a punch line and a purgatory has now had 14 consecutive winning seasons with a succession of basketball greats wearing its uniform. After decades of playing in dingy gyms from Buffalo to San Diego to downtown Los Angeles, the Clippers now hold court in a lavish, futuristic new arena built by the richest owner in professional sports, Steve Ballmer.
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Yet perhaps it’s cosmically appropriate for this crowning All-Star moment to arrive in the middle of a profoundly chaotic season for the Clippers, whose newer fans have been getting a taste of the bad old days from a team that once spent almost every year mired in some kind of mess.
“We’ve dealt with a lot this year,” Clippers guard Kris Dunn said last week. “Our whole mentality throughout the year has just been to try to find a way. It’s been tough.”
The season began under the cloud of an NBA investigation into a suspicious endorsement deal for superstar Kawhi Leonard which might have been a way for the team to circumvent the salary cap — and which infuriated front offices around the sport, no matter what the league eventually decides. Leonard, Ballmer and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank all deny wrongdoing, but the Clippers could face penalties if the league disagrees.
The Clippers then got off to a shambolic 6-21 start during which they shockingly kicked franchise icon Chris Paul off the team just six weeks into the 40-year-old point guard’s much-anticipated farewell season.
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A couple of weeks after Paul’s banishment, coach Tyronn Lue’s Clips improbably started winning again, with James Harden and longtime center Ivica Zubac stepping up alongside Leonard to lead a 16-3 surge back into the playoff race.
But then Frank blew up his roster last week, trading Harden to Cleveland and Zubac to Indiana. The moves likely improved the long-term outlook for a team that began the season with the NBA’s oldest roster, but they might have ended an era.
“As hard as these moves are, we’re extremely excited about where we’re going,” Frank said. “We want to win now. We believe we are going to win now, and we’re going to do it by getting younger.”
The Clippers’ current streak of 14 winning seasons was pretty much unthinkable only 15 years ago, when this franchise had managed only six winning seasons in 40 years. They’ve made the playoffs 12 times and won their first three Pacific Division titles in this stretch.
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But the Clippers’ past five months have contained enough drama for a decade around many clubs, and the All-Star weekend will be a welcome opportunity for the team and its fans to catch their breath.
This is the first All-Star weekend hosted solely by the Clippers, who shared the honor three times previously with their eternal older brothers, the 17-time champion Los Angeles Lakers. The Clippers once had to cover up the Lakers’ banners when they both played at the former Staples Center, but they don’t have those problems in their new $2 billion palace that puts the Lakers’ aging arena to shame.
And at least Clippers fans won’t have the bittersweet experience of watching Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is injured and won’t play in Inglewood. The reigning league MVP and NBA Finals MVP began his career with the Clippers in 2018, only to be traded to Oklahoma City a year later along with a jaw-dropping bounty of draft picks for Paul George.
The Clippers acquired Leonard and George together that summer, but both stars struggled to stay healthy. Although they made the Western Conference finals in 2021, the Clippers are still the oldest team in North American pro sports never to reach its league’s championship game or title series.
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The Clippers added Harden, Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal in attempts to push them over the top, but it never quite worked. Just two players are now left on the roster from the end of the 2023-24 season: Leonard and backup guard Jordan Miller.
Leonard has been healthy and outstanding in recent weeks, and he will be the Clippers’ only All-Star in their hometown game. He said the trade of Zubac “was like losing a brother,” but he understands why the moves “make sense.”
The Clippers’ fundamental change of course actually began well before last week: They allowed George to walk in the summer of 2024 instead of locking themselves into another massive contract extension. They traded dependable scorer Norman Powell last summer despite his excellent play, and they also declined to give more guaranteed money to Harden, effectively encouraging his departure.
While the trades of Harden and Zubac were painful, Frank believes they took the Clippers out of second-tier contender status — good enough to win, but not good enough to win it all — and replenished their stock of draft capital.
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What that means for Leonard is unclear, but Frank said he can see a future with the two-time NBA champion beyond this season, if Leonard wants it. Leonard said he isn’t thinking beyond this season.
The entire future beyond All-Star weekend is murky for the Clippers, between the looming investigation and uncertainty across the roster. But after the league marvels at the wonders of Intuit Dome, Frank and the respected Lue will continue working to keep the good times going.
“Yes, this is where I want to be,” Lue said. “Having an owner like Mr. Ballmer, who’s unbelievable, it does so many things for me. I trust everything we do, everything we decide to do. It’s a partnership. I want to be here.”
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