Man, they just seem to catch a break. Figuratively speaking.
The LA Clippers dropped another nail biter on a back-to-back losing to the Philadelphia 76ers 108-110, and already the main question is circulating.
Where is Kawhi Leonard?
If someone were to say the Clippers would be 4-10, and in the bottom of the Western Conference sitting at the 12th seed probably wouldn’t get that far with that statement.
Leonard suffered what the team is calling an ankle foot sprain. On November 3rd versus the Miami Heat in the 4th quarter, Leonard stepped on Miami Heat’s guard Pelle Larson’s foot. After the game, Leonard when asked how he felt, and will he play the next game versus the Oklahoma City Thunder? He simply responded with.
“We will see how it feels in the tomorrow.”
He hasn’t returned to action since that game, and now the Clippers are 1-5 since his absence. It is not only easy, but understandable to think that the “quick fix” scheme is to get Leonard back on the court, and everything will be fine, but the problems with this team flow deeper than that.
Lue’s coaching scheming
The NBA is an 82-game season with many highs and lows, emotions spiraling, and things that can't be prevented like injuries. However, when you have the luxury to have most things in order like your lineups and rotations that can’t be taken for granted.
The Clippers at the start of the season were not struggling because Leonard was absent, but mainly because of Tyronn Lue’s coaching. After an embarrassing 109-127 loss to the Utah Jazz, Lue would address the questionable lineups and rotations particularly in that game.
“It feels good to have so many options. It’s gonna take us 15–20 games to understand our rotations and our chemistry. So, I’m excited about that.”
One of the main factors that the Jazz had over the Clippers was in the front-court. Players like Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, and Jusuf Nurkic all stand near 7’0 tall, and it completely overwhelmed the Clippers. Over the last five seasons, the same small ball method Lue has used for much of it is what got the Clippers destroyed by the Jazz opening night.
Playing a 6’7 Leonard at the Power Forward position versus 7’0 Markkanen is not ideal, and it takes him to get injured to add John Collins in the starting lineup is not a flex. One could say games where you have Collins and Leonard together would help with the lack of size putting guys at their natural position.
Limited offensive weapons
It's not all Lue’s fault; some of it is on the players controlled and uncontrolled. Players like Bradley Beal who only completed four games after being ruled out for the remainder of the season with a fracture in his hip he suffered versus the Phoenix Suns cannot be controlled nor predicted. The games Beal was on the court he was placed on heavy minutes restrictions getting back in rhythm and game shape after going through left knee surgery back in May.
With a three-tier scorer lost in the lineup like him, Leonard being sidelined multiple games, not to mention losing Norman Powell and Amir Coffey who were the Clippers prime three-point shooting threats.
Derrick Jones Jr. who suffered a sprained MCL versus the Boston Celtics on Sunday along with Jordan Miller dealing with a sore hamstring.
It is more than just rushing to get Leonard back to whom they still were struggling as a team when he was on the court to produce points.
Solution
The positive thing to take is while the Clippers have been going through a drought, there has been plenty of fight. Within the last three games, versus the Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics, and the Sixers, all three games have been determined within the last minute of regulation or overtime.
That says the fight is still there.
Players like the Clippers 2025 1st round draft pick Kobe Sanders has been a bright spot that many Clipper fans can look and see has some value. Along with Collins, that is a player Leonard has not played with yet.
Despite all of that, the number of concerns the Clippers have will not be erased but rather masked with Leonard on the court. That is nothing more than putting a band-aid over a wound without treating it, and that simply not a recipe for success.