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In a surprising move, the Los Angeles Clippers decided late Wednesday night to part ways with seasoned point guard Chris Paul. This decision wasn’t meant as a scapegoat for their dismal 5-16 start to the season.
“Chris is an iconic Clipper with a remarkable career,” shared team president Lawrence Frank in a statement. “I want to be crystal clear: Chris isn’t to blame for our poor performance. The responsibility for our current record lies with me. We have faced numerous challenges that have led to our struggles.”
That very night, the Clippers secured a commanding 115-92 win over the Atlanta Hawks, who were missing key players like Trae Young, Jalen Johnson, and Kristaps Porziņģis. Their next challenge was against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, a team that had defeated them in Los Angeles just a week earlier. This game was a pivotal opportunity for the Clippers to clinch only their second consecutive win of the season.
Unfortunately, they faltered, losing 107-98 to a Grizzlies squad playing without Ja Morant. Kawhi Leonard and James Harden combined for 42 points, shooting 16-of-36, while their teammates contributed 56 points on 19-of-44 shooting. Nicolas Batum stood out as the sole Clippers player with a positive plus/minus rating that night.
Next on the agenda for the Clippers is a game in Minnesota, part of a grueling back-to-back schedule. A four-day break follows, but challenging games loom against strong Western Conference teams like the Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Los Angeles Lakers. The road ahead promises little respite.
With their 2026 first-round pick already committed to the Thunder, the Clippers lack motivation to tank for a high draft position. They’re just three games behind the Portland Trail Blazers for the final play-in tournament spot in the West, leaving room for a potential turnaround. Nevertheless, addressing the significant issues that have emerged early in the season remains a daunting task.
Since the Clippers owe their fully unprotected 2026 first-round pick to the Thunder, they have zero incentive to steer into the skid and give up on the season in pursuit of a high lottery pick. They’re only three games behind the Portland Trail Blazers for the final spot in the West’s play-in tournament, so they still have time to turn their season around. However, there’s only so much they can do to fix some of the glaring issues that have popped up early in the year.
The Clippers Are Too Old For Today’s NBA
The Clippers came into the season with by far the oldest roster in the NBA. The average age of their roster is 31.1. The Sacramento Kings, the league’s second-oldest team, have an average age of 29.8.
After the Thunder and Indiana Pacers’ run to the NBA Finals last year, most teams sought to get younger and deeper this offseason. The Clippers zagged by doubling down on established veterans, which has spectacularly backfired on them.
The Clippers split their $14.1 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception between 37-year-old center Brook Lopez ($8.75 million) and 32-year-old guard Bradley Beal ($5.35 million). Lopez has already fallen out of their rotation after 17 ineffective games, while Beal suffered a season-ending hip injury after only six games. They also re-signed soon-to-be 37-year-old forward Nicolas Batum on a two-year, $11.5 million deal.
The Clippers rounded out their roster by signing Paul to a one-year, veteran-minimum contract. Doing so left them only $1.25 million below the $195.9 million first apron, which they cannot exceed at any point this season since they spent the non-taxpayer MLE. They do have an open roster spot, but they can’t even fill it with another minimum contract until January because they’re too close to the first apron.
Kobe Sanders, who’s on a two-way contract, and Cam Christie, whom they selected with a second-round pick in 2024, are their only two regular rotation players under the age of 28. Ivica Zubac, John Collins and Derrick Jones Jr. are all in their age-28 seasons, while their other rotation members are all 31 or older.
To some extent, the Clippers were pot-committed to having an older team. They’re built around two stars in their mid-30s in Leonard (34) and Harden (36). It’s no coincidence that they’re operating at the third-lowest pace leaguewide, though. They’ve also run the fourth-fewest miles of any team and have the fourth-lowest average speed.
The Clippers’ Defense Has Been Atrocious
The Clippers might be able to get away with operating at a turtle’s pace if their offense was relentlessly efficient and they were locked in defensively. Neither of those things have been true through the first quarter of the season, though.
The Clippers rank 21st in offensive rating even though they’re 10th in true shooting percentage. Harden, Leonard and Zubac are largely carrying their weight, but they’re getting inconsistent output from the rest of the roster.
The bigger issue is their defense. Even after Wednesday’s beatdown of the injury-ravaged Hawks, the Clippers are only 25th leaguewide in defensive rating. They’re allowing 118.5 points per 100 possessions, which is more than 15 points worse than the Thunder’s league-leading mark.
The Clippers came into the season emphasizing the importance of transition defense in particular. However, they’re allowing the second-most points per possession in transition, ahead of only the 3-18 Washington Wizards.
Although the Clippers were one of the deepest teams in the league on paper, they handed Beal a starting spot going into training camp and said they were trying to get him back to being an elite-level defender. Beal hasn’t been that in years, if ever. The Clippers allowed 9.2 more points per 100 possessions during his limited time on the court than they have with him off the floor, which ranked in the 8th percentile leaguewide. Harden hasn’t been much better in that regard (7.4 more points allowed per 100 possessions, 13th percentile).
The Clippers’ defense might improve when Jones returns from his sprained MCL, although he’s set to be out for at least a few more weeks. The bigger issue is that given their age and declining athleticism, their current personnel might not be conducive to having an above-average defense.
Paul was “vocal in holding management, coaches and players accountable,” according to Charania, which the Clippers reportedly found disruptive. Sam Amick, Law Murray and Joe Vardon of The Athletic added that his “critiques came off like grating criticisms that were unwelcome while the team was trying to find itself while playing through injury.”
While Wednesday’s win over the Hawks could have helped spark a turnaround, Friday’s loss to the Grizzlies showed the Clippers still have their work cut out for them. Ridding themselves of Paul’s badgering might make the locker room less miserable amidst this disappointing start to the season, but shoring up the defense and starting to win more games is the only thing that can cure the Clippers of their early-season ails.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.
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