Jude Magnotti ‘26
EE Sports Columnist
Well that’s it, the Kawai Leonard era in L.A. is nearing its end. The Los Angeles Clippers were officially eliminated from the playoffs last Tuesday by the Phoenix Suns. After taking game 1, L.A. lost 4 games in a row to lose the series 4-1.
A large part of these 4 straight losses was the absence of all-stars Paul George and Kawai Leonard. George was ruled out for the series, but L.A. still took game one with Kawai Leonard playing. After looking perfectly healthy during the Clippers game 1 win, it was announced the next day that Leonard suffered a torn meniscus and would be out for the rest of the series.
With both of their all-stars gone, it was up to a 33-year-old Russel Westbrook to lead the Clippers to victory. Surprisingly, Westbrook balled out playing incredible defense on Kevin Durant and had multiple 35 point games. Unfortunately, it was not enough and the Clippers lost those games.
With both PG and Kawai’s contracts expiring next season, the question of possibly disbanding the duo has inevitably come up. NBA media is bashing the Clippers for their pitfalls and the front office might consider trading away Kawai and PG for high draft picks and young players. But how did we get here?
The Kawai and PG duo was supposed to be a dynasty. How are we four years in with only one conference finals appearance to show for it? Well here’s how we got to this point: The Clippers have been the laughing stock of the league for a long time. While the Lakers had dynasties and championships with guys like Magic, Kareem, Kobe, and Shaq; the Clippers had almost zero superstars on their roster for 40 years!
That is until Blake Griffin came along. Blake was a monster at Oklahoma and had just eliminated Steph Curry in March Madness. He was the unquestioned number one pick and, luckily for the Clippers, they got him. However, after a pre-season injury sidelined him for his entire first season, Blake didn’t get a chance to play until his second.
When he did, he did not disappoint. He averaged 20 points a game on his way to winning rookie of the year and the Kia dunk contest. Blake’s athleticism and high-flying dunks paired with the offensive rebounding of newcomer Deandre Jordan, put the Clippers in a good position. Then, what seemed like the miracle Clippers’ fans were waiting for happened: CP3 was traded to L.A.
The Clips finally had a star pair and with Paul’s playmaking and the Clippers frontcourt, “lob city” was in full effect. On a nightly basis the group would deliver some of the most jaw-dropping dunks known to mankind.
Unfortunately, dunks were not enough to get through the playoffs and they never even reached the conference finals. To add insult to injury, this came on the back of 3 different blown 3-1 leads in the playoffs. After Doc Rivers was fired and Paul and Griffin traded, the “lob city” era was officially over.
However, hope was not completely lost. The Clippers still had draft picks and all they had to do was hit on a few of them to be back in contention. Unfortunately, almost every Clipper first-round pick after that was a bust…except for one player: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Alexander was taken with the 11th pick in the 2018 draft by the Charlotte Hornets and then traded to the Clippers. Shai was not spectacular his rookie season but had shown flashes of greatness. Unfortunately, that is when the Clippers went into win-now mode and Shai was traded to the Thunder along with 6 first round picks (!) for Paul George.
Looking back, this deal might have been one of the worst we have seen as of late. Paul George was a superstar at the time, but was he worth 6 firsts and Alexander? Heck no!
Shai would go on to become the 30 points-per-game superstar we know today and the Clippers are out of the playoffs and out of draft picks.
So, what will the Clippers do? Will they try to run it back one last time with their superstar duo? Or will they flip them for picks and young guys mid season and head back into a rebuild. Only time will tell, but if one thing’s for certain, it’s that the Clips will be back to mediocrity sooner than later.