Clippers eliminated: What’s next for Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Ty Lue

DALLAS — Reggie Jackson wasn’t attempting to do a victory lap.

But the ground plan within the again hallways of Crypto.com Arena has a approach of forcing interactions amongst opposing sides. It was there Denver’s reserve level guard bumped into his previous LA Clippers boss, president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank, after the Nuggets’ 113-104 win on Nov. 27. Jackson had induced an excessive amount of stress that evening, together with his 35-point, 13-assist outburst not solely carrying Denver to victory with out Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon, but additionally sparking an existential disaster of kinds for his former crew.

The Clippers had been lower than a month into the James Harden expertise, having made that blockbuster transfer to land him from the Philadelphia 76ers in late October. Yet with their massive three of Harden, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George all obtainable, and with a fourth future Hall of Famer in Russell Westbrook coming off the bench, they’d in some way managed to get outplayed by Denver’s B-Team whereas falling for the seventh time in 11 tries since Harden debuted.

Jackson, who was a beloved member of the Clippers from 2019 to 2023, loved this reunion way over Frank.

“I love you Reggie, but f— you,” Jackson, who’s shut with Frank, mentioned with amusing whereas remembering the playful greeting he acquired from the Clippers’ govt.

But Jackson hadn’t been the one former Clipper who made this new tremendous crew look so foolish. DeAndre Jordan, the little-used 35-year-old whose finest basketball got here a decade in the past, completed with a 21-point, 13-rebound, five-assist line that he’d solely reached one different time in his 16-year profession. And when he took a learn of that acquainted Clippers’ room, glancing towards the hallway space the place coaches, executives, gamers and proprietor Steve Ballmer make a behavior of discussing that evening’s affair afterward, the extent of discontent was evident. According to a number of crew sources, the temper amongst administration that evening was the worst it might be for the whole common season.

“Yeah, it was dark over there,” Jordan remembered.

The darkness returned on Friday evening, when the Leonard-less Clippers had been eradicated by Dallas in Game 6 of their first-round sequence, 114-101. The identical query that loomed so massive again in November returned from the shadows and will likely be on the middle of the Clippers’ decision-making course of this summer season: Does Ballmer, the uber-competitive former Microsoft CEO who is much and away the wealthiest proprietor in all of the NBA, nonetheless see sufficient mild on the finish of the tunnel with this group that he’s keen to re-invest sufficient to maintain all of it collectively? The reply, crew sources inform The Athletic, is a powerful sure.

Even with the Clippers’ newest disappointing end — a second consecutive first-round flop that adopted their playoff absence again in 2022 — they’re anticipated to make sturdy efforts to re-sign each Paul George and James Harden. The considering, crew sources say, is {that a} crew constructed across the oft-injured Leonard merely should have as a lot elite expertise as attainable as a approach of mitigating the seemingly inevitable accidents which have come to outline this Clippers period.

The optimism that’s driving this technique, it appears, was born out of the midseason stretch wherein the Clippers appeared like one of the best crew within the NBA. They received 26 of 31 video games from Dec. 2 to Feb. 5, all whereas boasting the league’s third-best internet ranking and high offense.

After all these years wherein a scarcity of well being had hampered them, with Leonard and George broadly seen because the unofficial faces of the league’s load administration period, it was a two-month lengthy showcase of how particular they may very well be as a bunch. The X-factor in all of it? Leonard, George, Harden and Westbrook all performed at the least 27 video games in that span.

Come playoff time, although, issues modified for the more severe on the well being entrance. Again.

Leonard, who signed a three-year, $152.4 million extension in January and performed extra regular-season video games than he had since his 2016-17 marketing campaign (68), fell sufferer to irritation in the proper knee that he had surgically repaired after tearing his ACL within the 2021 playoffs (and lacking the whole 2021-22 marketing campaign). He missed the final eight video games of the common season, 4 of six playoff video games, and re-sparked all of the acquainted doubts about his viability as a franchise centerpiece participant.

But with the Clippers set to start out a brand new period contained in the $2 billion Intuit Dome next season, and Leonard’s newest postseason absence providing a sober reminder that they nonetheless want all of the elite assist they will get round him for these years to come back, these next few months will set the course on a dear path that is stuffed with each potential and peril.

It begins with George, the 34-year-old, nine-time All-Star whose forthcoming free company was by no means a part of this plan. But the issues received’t finish there, with Harden, coach Ty Lue and Westbrook all dealing with nuanced negotiations of their very own as all of them determine whether or not the need to recommit to the Clippers is mutual. This is a deeper have a look at all 4 of the Clippers’ most vital conditions this offseason.

Tyronn Lue and Paul George react to sport motion from the sideline towards the Nets in January. (Harry How / Getty Images)

Will Paul George be again?

When Leonard defined his resolution to signal an extension at a Jan. 11 information convention, the questions rapidly shifted to what it would imply for George and Harden.

“I think for the most part, everybody is coming back,” he advised reporters.

George, in flip, gave the Clippers purpose to consider that Leonard’s evaluation was on level.

“You secure and lock in Kawhi, that definitely leaves the door open for myself,” George advised reporters. “Very optimistic that something will get done on my behalf as well.”

The solely hassle, it appears, is that George has but to stroll via that door.

While Harden’s free-agency discussions with the Clippers should wait till the day after the NBA Finals come to an finish, George has been extension-eligible all season lengthy. Team sources say there have been intensive discussions between the 2 sides, most notably heading into the February commerce deadline, however the absence of a deal as free company nears has now opened the Clippers to outdoors threat. Teams such because the 76ers and Orlando Magic (which are flush with wage cap house) are identified to have curiosity in George, who pushed his approach out of Oklahoma City and to the Clippers in the summertime of 2019 in order that he may return to his house area and be part of forces with Leonard. While George has a participant possibility for next season value $48.7 million, he’s broadly anticipated to say no it to pursue a brand new deal and will turn out to be a free agent on June 30.

From the Clippers’ standpoint, the league’s set up of the (extraordinarily punitive) second tax apron final offseason has made this forthcoming math equation nearly not possible to unravel. By proxy, the George negotiation has turn out to be infinitely tougher. Teams which are above the second apron (projected at $189.6 million, per a league memo) face extreme roster restrictions, as they’re prohibited from making trades except the salaries swapped are a one hundred pc match (versus 125 p.c on offers above $29 million for groups beneath the primary apron) or signing gamers utilizing the midlevel exception. Second-apron groups can also’t mix a number of gamers’ salaries in trades, can’t use commerce exceptions from earlier years or ship money to a different crew to finalize a deal. It is, in essence, the equal of a tough cap.

As such, the Clippers’ hope has been that George can be keen to simply accept the same deal to the one they landed on with Leonard as a approach of relieving as a lot strain as attainable on this entrance. According to The Athletic’s salary-cap knowledgeable, Danny Leroux, Leonard’s deal saved the Clippers a mixed $9.9 million beneath his most wage attainable within the second and third years of the contract.

Even with out George, Harden, Westbrook or any of the Clippers’ different free brokers (Mason Plumlee, Daniel Theis and Brandon Boston Jr.), the Clippers have $113.9 million dedicated in salaries for next season (together with P.J. Tucker, who has a participant possibility value $11.5 million for next season). If the Clippers re-sign George and Harden, it’s extremely doubtless that they’d should function above the second apron next season. The purpose from there, crew sources mentioned, can be to discover a technique to get again below that brutal threshold for the 2025-26 marketing campaign to keep away from the roster restrictions that solely worsen with every subsequent season wherein a crew stays in second apron territory.

Only George is aware of how he actually sees his scenario, however it’s value remembering that the Clippers are identified to have proven a willingness to debate him in a choose few commerce situations heading into the February deadline. The inside calculus was totally different again then, in fact, with the absence of a brand new cope with George leaving the Clippers involved that they could in the end lose him for nothing in return in free company.

Still, does George harbor any onerous emotions from that revelation, and may that have an effect on his willingness to simply accept something lower than a max-salary deal? These next few weeks and months will inform that story.

P.J. Washington knocks the ball away from James Harden throughout Game 6 of the Mavericks-Clippers first-round sequence. (Jerome Miron / USA Today)

How … onerous … will this James Harden negotiation be?

When Harden determined to drive his approach out of Philadelphia final summer season, his unfulfilled needs of a max-salary cope with the Sixers – alongside together with his fractured relationship with Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey – served because the driving forces behind his exit. But the attract of enjoying in his hometown was a pivotal half in his technique too, with Harden hoping to turn out to be one more Clippers star who returned to his roots for a late-career NBA chapter.

Yet whereas crew and league sources say that either side need this partnership to proceed, the aforementioned numbers crunch means there’s a difficult dialog in regards to the crew’s funds to have right here as nicely.

Will Harden be pushing for a max deal from the Clippers now that his long-awaited free company has lastly arrived, or is he keen to sacrifice in a lot the identical approach he did early on throughout his Sixers expertise? That half stays unclear. By all accounts, their first season collectively has been constructive for all concerned. Both sides, crew and league sources say, need this relationship to proceed.

Harden repeatedly mentioned throughout the shedding streak that accompanied his arrival to the Clippers that he wanted about 10 video games to get in rhythm after not having a full coaching camp. That time interval modified the make-up of the crew after the Clippers spent their coaching camp enjoying to the strengths of Westbrook by way of ball motion, slicing, tempo and strain protection.

Once Harden was handed the keys to the offense and Westbrook went to the second unit, the Clippers had been capable of set up one of the highly effective offenses within the league. Harden established pick-and-roll classes with the facilities, and it bolstered starter Ivica Zubac to the highest-scoring season of his profession. While Harden was upset final season about not being an All-Star, he didn’t make practically as a lot a fuss about it this yr, specializing in the larger purpose the crew had. When requested if Harden was proud of the Clippers, one among Harden’s representatives responded to The Athletic: “Does he look happy? He’s very happy.”

It appeared that Harden hit a wall after the All-Star break. He performed 59 consecutive video games to start his Clippers tenure, though his effectiveness began to wane sharply by March. But Harden has additionally discovered himself in one other scenario the place he’s enjoying and not using a star within the playoffs, after earlier postseasons in Philadelphia (Joel Embiid) and Brooklyn (Kyrie Irving) ended on groups that didn’t have their stars obtainable in all of the video games.

Is it time for Tyronn Lue to receives a commission?

When the 2022-23 NBA season ended, Tyronn Lue’s emotion may very well be seen on his face within the media room in Phoenix. A season that began with championship expectations turned bitter virtually instantly, as an imperfect roster was uncovered early, usually and late by the unavailability of Leonard and George.

Lue did have one thing notable to look ahead to: a possibility to be on USA Basketball’s teaching workers. Lue’s expertise with head coach Steve Kerr and assistants Erik Spoelstra and Mark Few re-energized him. With two years left on his contract on the time, and the omnipresent query of whether or not this group would ever be wholesome sufficient for him to actually lead, he vowed to have a extra affected person strategy going into the 2023-24 season.

That reservoir for additional persistence and power was essential when the Clippers misplaced six video games in a row upon buying and selling for Harden in November. Lue remained constructive all through the shedding streak, stabilizing the Clippers within the final two weeks of November, then main the Clippers on that highly effective 26-5 stretch and nabbing back-to-back Western Conference Coach of the Month Awards for December and January within the course of.

Lue’s worth has been within the mild this complete season, and he has taken discover of the opposite coaches signing extensions or massive contracts. He has been glad for all of them: Michael Malone, Monty Williams, Gregg Popovich, Spoelstra and Kerr. Spoelstra’s new deal was introduced the identical day that Leonard’s extension was signed. After beating the Toronto Raptors that evening, Lue got here into the postgame interview room and was requested if he was good. Lue jokingly responded: “Spo’s doing good!”

And your second of zen tonight lol pic.twitter.com/mrYX5uLi8H

— Law Murray 🎈 (@LawMurrayTheNU) January 11, 2024

Yet whereas Clippers’ officers don’t have anything however excessive reward to share about Lue, and a number of crew sources indicated that he’s anticipated to be the pinnacle coach next season when he’s within the last assured yr of his deal, it’s honest to marvel what may come next. According to a league supply with data of Lue’s scenario, there have been no discussions about an extension.

Considering the Clippers’ in-season efforts to safe Leonard’s future with the franchise, and their try to do a brand new cope with George as nicely, the selection to go away Lue’s long-term standing unsure was seen by some concerned events as questionable. As ESPN first reported on Friday,  and as a crew supply confirmed to The Athletic, the Clippers plan to pursue an extension with Lue.

The Clippers know they will’t improve on Lue. They didn’t lengthen him final offseason, although they assured the final yr of the five-year contract he signed in 2020 to succeed Doc Rivers as head coach. Other groups had been blocked from speaking to Lue. According to crew sources, that might be the case once more if groups try to pry him away this offseason. Lue has already been tied to the Lakers’ emptiness, and his stellar fame as a title-winning coach means he’d doubtless be within the operating for any job that turns into open.

Lue’s focus, in the meantime, is his forthcoming return to the Team USA stage and the prospect of operating Kerr’s protection for Team USA whereas becoming a member of Leonard in Paris (Lille, France, to be extra actual). But it stays a query whether or not Lue can abdomen one other yr of questionable star availability throughout the season, simply to play short-handed within the playoffs.

This was not a yr for Lue with out some consternation even after the 26-5 stretch. The crew needed to ship 13-year NBA veteran Tucker and third-year guard Bones Hyland house for the final sport earlier than the All-Star break in February, two third-string gamers who hoped to get traded even whereas the crew was enjoying among the many finest basketball within the league. In March, the Clippers had a stretch the place they misplaced six of 9 video games and had the second-worst defensive effectivity within the league in that span. One week after George steered that the Clippers didn’t have an identification following a very feckless house loss to the Atlanta Hawks, Lue snapped again.

“Do we have an identity?” Lue requested rhetorically. “I think, yeah, we’re soft. That can be an identity, if you want to call it that. We got to be tougher, mentally and physically, but we do have an identity. When we were 26-5, we had a great identity. So you can’t pick and choose when you want to lead. You can’t pick and choose when you want to have identity. You can’t pick and choose when you want to do things the right way.”

For Lue, it’s not a matter of whether or not the Clippers worth him. It’s what he has to look ahead to if it’s the identical group. This was one other yr the place star-player availability reared its ugly head. Despite getting probably the most video games from George (74) and Leonard (68) of their Clippers’ tenures, each nonetheless had situations the place they needed to miss video games. Harden additionally performed his most video games in 5 years (72), however he will likely be a 35-year-old guard who wore down in March, bringing the crew’s offensive effectivity down with him. For the fourth yr in a row, Leonard wasn’t capable of full the postseason. Lue has mentioned he simply desires to win, and his lamentations of not ever having a full deck at an important time of the yr has taken him out of his “happy place” teaching within the playoffs.

Russell Westbrook was moved to the bench to make room for James Harden within the Clippers’ backcourt earlier this season. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea / USA Today)

The Russell Westbrook dilemma

When it involves forecasting uncertainty amongst a few of the Clippers’ highest-profile figures, Westbrook seems to high the checklist. The 35-year-old who misplaced his start line guard job to Harden in mid-November, and who crew and league sources say needed to be satisfied by Frank to tackle the sixth-man function when the group’s energy brokers deemed it a requirement, has a participant possibility value $4 million for next season.

Westbrook’s function took on a unique highlight when he was misplaced to a fractured hand in March, a interval that noticed the Clippers go 6-6 and lose 5 straight video games at house. But upon Westbrook’s return, the Clippers went on a stretch the place they received seven of eight video games, culminating sooner or later Hall of Famer’s lone triple-double of the season whereas beginning rather than Harden at Phoenix. Even when Westbrook noticed success after his return, he usually talked about how he felt he may play extra, and he didn’t communicate to reporters at any level after the common season ended.

Does the nine-time All-Star and former MVP need to proceed in this type of restricted function whereas enjoying on a veteran’s minimal deal, or may he have performed his approach into a greater alternative elsewhere? Considering the challenges that got here with him being relegated to a reserve function, with crew and league sources indicating that the method was far more difficult behind the scenes than crew officers had made it seem publicly, the reply might very nicely be the latter.

While Westbrook had no scarcity of significant moments and impression this season, he averaged profession lows in minutes (22.5 per sport), factors (11.1), and assists (4.5). He struggled mightily towards Dallas, averaging simply 6.3 factors, 4.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists whereas taking pictures 26 p.c from the sphere. Then once more, he was hardly alone.

When the Mavericks completed the job towards the Clippers in Game 6, the postgame response was nothing like that late-November sport towards Denver that had left all of them so incensed. It’s one factor to lose to journeymen like Jackson and Jordan, and fairly one other to get outplayed by all-time greats like Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving. Add in the truth that the extreme distinction on the harm entrance, with the Mavericks absolutely loaded and the Clippers devastated but once more by Leonard’s absence, and the ultimate final result got here as no shock to most.

If solely these cursed Clippers may catch a break someday, with all of their stars aligning in instances of well being and prosperity, then maybe the all-too-familiar ending is likely to be totally different.

(Top photograph of Paul George, James Harden and Kawhi Leonard: Harry How / Getty Images)