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The Clippers have spent massive on their famous person combo. Subsequent season is perhaps the final time to money in.
Each Kawhi Leonard and Paul George can turn into free brokers after 2023-24 season, and now coach Tyronn Lue will probably be part of them on the free-agent market.
The Clippers made an enormous splash in the summertime of 2019, signing Leonard as a free agent and bought George in alternate for 5 first-round picks, two decide swaps and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was first-team All-NBA final season. However the superteam hasn’t lived as much as expectations.
The Clippers blew a 3-1 result in the Denver Nuggets within the 2020 bubble playoffs. That was the final time that they had a wholesome George and Leonard out there within the postseason. They changed coach Doc Rivers with Lue that offseason and reached the Western Convention Finals in 2021, after Leonard tore his ACL. The Clippers misplaced within the play-in in 2022, and misplaced to Phoenix within the first spherical after George and Leonard have been each damage final 12 months.
Not extending Lue could imply that the Clippers are keen to maneuver one or each their stars, forward of their transfer to the Intuit Dome in 2024. If they’ll’t depend on their high-priced stars to even play within the postseason, a lot much less thrive, then they could need to deal George and Leonard now.
However the Clippers are considerably caught. They don’t management their very own draft decide till 2027, to allow them to’t tank for draft place. The group additionally needs to be aggressive going into a brand new enviornment the place they’re instantly competing with the Lakers. And the harm histories of their stars might restrict their commerce worth.
The almost certainly final result? The Clippers trip it out for one ultimate season and hope that success will make the group need to keep collectively. It’s unusual to have a “Final Dance” for a group that didn’t do a lot in its first 4 dances, however contracts and accidents have led the Clippers right here.
All we all know is that when the music stops in 2024, issues might get ugly on the Intuit Dome.
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