A championship-proven team. Free food and drinks. Free penthouses. Coaching and medical staff attending to your needs. A city and country that loves and adores you. The opportunity to repeat as NBA champions. Who would say no to that?
Kawhi could’ve had everything he wanted had he stayed in Toronto. Ultimately, the allure of playing in his hometown was the deciding factor for Kawhi to leave Toronto and play for the Los Angeles Clippers under Coach Doc Rivers. It seemed like a good decision at the time: an opportunity to play at home on a playoff proven team with six-time NBA All-Star Paul George as his right-hand man. To seal the deal, the LA Clippers traded Danilo Gallinari, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and a whopping 5 (!) first round picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder to secure Paul George’s services. With the deal complete, many believed that the Los Angeles Clippers were on their way to win their first NBA championship while the Toronto Raptors would fall out of playoff contention.
Instead, the Los Angeles Clippers followed the Toronto Raptors home after they lost to the Denver Nuggets in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals. To add insult to injury, the Clippers were eliminated in the same game and round as the Toronto Raptors, a team that exceeded expectations and fought to the bitter end against the Boston Celtics. The Clippers only needed one more win to advance to their first ever Western Conference Final after they went up 3-1 in the series. The Clippers watched their 3-1 series lead disappear as they blew leads of 16, 19, and 12 points in their final three games with their two stars putting in their worst playoff performances in Game 7 of the series. With the series on the line, Kawhi Leonard and Paul “Pandemic P” George combined for a dismal 24 points on 10-of-38 shootings and went scoreless in the final quarter of Game 7. The entire team averaged only 45 points in the second half against Denver and looked completely helpless as the Nuggets rallied back to win the series. The Denver Nuggets were the better team and showed incredible resilience and strength throughout their playoff run. Led by two-time NBA All Star Nikola Jokic and rising Canadian star Jamal Murray, the Nuggets are the first team to win two playoff series after being down 3-1 and they advance to their first Conference Finals since 2009.
The Nuggets’ improbable win led many to wonder what went wrong with the LA Clippers. The Clippers repeatedly cited a lack of chemistry as a key factor on why they fell short in the playoffs, a factor that was hinted at since the beginning of the season. Prior to the 2019-2020 season, the Clippers were known as an egalitarian team with minimally established locker-room hierarchy amongst the players. Integrating franchise stars like Leonard and George and establishing a locker room hierarchy meant the Clippers would need to go through an adjustment period. Adding two NBA stars changed the team dynamic, as players struggled to fit in the new offensive systems which were designed to complement Leonard and George throughout the season. Sprinkle in Leonard’s load management and the team’s inability to stay healthy throughout the season and you get a team that hasn’t played enough games together to establish their own identity.
In March, just when the Clippers started to get a better sense of the team dynamic, COVID-19 shut down the league. With all momentum gone by the time the team reconvened in the Orlando bubble, the team struggled to play cohesively throughout the NBA restart. In addition to the introduction of “Pandemic P”, players had to leave the bubble to mourn the loss of loved ones, and with teammates arriving late to the bubble after testing positive for COVID-19, LA’s performances were sloppy. The Clippers’ struggles were evident as they barely beat an injured Dallas Mavericks team in the first round, but they appeared to finally catch a break with their second round opponent. The Clippers could not have had a better matchup: the Denver Nuggets had just defeated the Utah Jazz in Game 7 after going down 3-1 and were not given a break after their series win. Although the Clippers showed championship form during their first four games against the Nuggets to go up 3-1, the Clippers’ season-long struggles reared their ugly head once again, leading to their playoff collapse.
On paper, this team was built to win an NBA championship with the addition of a Finals MVP and MVP candidate to a roster of veteran players. Following their loss, however, the Clippers are in danger of losing their best chance to win it all if they don’t win in 2021. Leonard and George become free agents in the summer of 2021: if they walk, the Clippers could be stuck at the bottom of the NBA for the next decade with no path to success, as they’ve traded away all of their first round picks (their next first round pick is in 2027). For now, the team will have to re-evaluate and adjust for the next season quickly. A new champion will be crowned, and it won’t be the Clippers.