It’s Oscars Week, which appears like nearly as good a time as any to attract up the NBA storylines and characters which may double as Oscar nominees. Subsequent up are the L.A. Clippers and the 2024 season probably being the fruits of their decade of prosperity.
Every week in the past Wednesday, the Clippers have been 33-12 since Nov. 17, main the Lakers by 21 after the third body of a primetime matchup, and in place for the highest seed within the West. Then, LeBron James stuffed the Los Angeles Clippers again into actuality. They turned bystanders within the largest 4th quarter Lakers comeback in 20 years, fell to 1-3 towards their Crypto flatmates, and fourth in a packed Western Convention. Two days later, former Laker Russell Westbrook fractured his hand swiping Jordan Poole’s dribble away from behind. The loss and Westbrook’s accidents are a reminder that even with the marquee trio of Paul George, James Harden, and Kawhi Leonard, they’re simply inventory characters within the Lake Present
Greta Van Gerwig’s illustration of Ken dolls as mere equipment in a Barbie world with extra plasticized faces than Los Angeles is a exact analog of the Clippers. Clipper Ken has been an undesirable participant within the L.A. professional sports activities industrial complicated for 40 years. Billy Crystal is their Jack Nicholson. Within the shadows of the Lakers dynasties they haven’t any banners to boost, even their longtime GM was a Laker legend, and so they’re one in all solely two franchises with no retired jerseys within the rafters. To make issues worse, between 1984 and 2014, the Clippers held the worst successful share within the NBA. The Lakers earned the league’s greatest. Their most consequential gamers in franchise historical past pre-Lob Metropolis have been the fictional Zeke McCall and some seasons of Baron Davis.
That Clipper Kenergy performed a component of their incapacity to ascertain an id of their very own till Steve Ballmer purchased the group. Donald Sterling’s racism and bigotry have been already washed into the material of the Clippers, however their franchise reset wouldn’t have even been attainable if the longtime Clippers Governor hadn’t disparaged Lakers legend Magic Johnson and ostensibly been pressured to promote the group. The world most likely wouldn’t have batted a watch if he’d instructed his sugar child V. Stiviano to keep away from black individuals and particularly Terry Cummings.
Lob Metropolis was their first try to stage a coup, however that ended with a whimper. Each Ken has their day although, proper? This fall, as a part of a rebrand the Clippers will lastly full building on their $2 billion Intuit Dome.
Within the decade since Sterling’s banishment, the Clipper Kens have hit their stride as respectable members of L.A.’s huge sports activities neighborhood. Fifteen years after Kobe Bryant ended his drawn-out free agency by spurning the Clippers to re-sign with a revamped Lakers squad, Kawhi Leonard rejected the chance to launch a superteam in purple and gold alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis to play for the “other team” as the one consequential free company signing in Clippers historical past.
Since 2014, the Clippers .614 winning percentage is the second-best among 30 teams in the course of the common season. The Lakers have the fifth-worst file in that span, however have a hoop to indicate for his or her troubles.
Ballmer’s present Clipper core is an audacious assortment of particular person homegrown, L.A.-bred superstars vying for his or her first franchise title. They might be small and slightly too depending on wings on the expense of measurement or size, however these aren’t the washed-up trio of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Jason Terry.
Brooklyn’s notorious try to expedite proprietor Mikhail Prokhorov’s “title in five years” promise as a part of the Nets’ operation to eat into the Knicks’ grip on New York Metropolis blew up of their faces nearly instantly. Six years after that catastrophe class, Prokhorov bought the group to Joseph Tsai because the Celtics haul of picks started their run as a perennial contender. These Clippers are a reliable risk to win the West. However ringz culture has sullied what’s been essentially the most affluent period in Clippers’ historical past. It isn’t Ken-ough for the Clips to be nice although.
George and Leonard have superior to a Convention Finals earlier than, might have gained it in 2021 if Leonard hadn’t suffered an damage, and are nonetheless enjoying at an All-NBA stage. Harden’s descent from his peak because the heliocentric guard of this nuclear offensive age has been softened by his reassignment to maitre d’ and tertiary scorer supporting George and Leonard in Tyronn Lue’s offense. However we’ll look again at this decade as one of many worst for any group by way of drafting expertise. They possess no first-round picks till 2030 and haven’t hit on a decide since they shipped out Shai Gilgeous-Alexander within the Paul George swap.
However as their core 4 advance into their mid-30s although, the clock is operating out the Outdated Kens in a younger man’s league. Forward of the Clippers within the Western Convention pecking order is an Oklahoma group that’s on the verge of changing into the Boston of the West. 5 years after getting exiled to Oklahoma Metropolis SGA and a bevy of Thunder picks acquired from the Clippers in 2019 have propelled the Thunder to the highest of the West properly forward of schedule. Harden is gearing up for one final contract skirmish this summer season and George is getting outdated quick.
It doesn’t appear to matter what they do although, they’ll always be number two in L.A. The Intuit Dome locks them into L.A. for the lengthy haul once they may have skipped city to grow to be the darlings of Seattle. In 2013, Ballmer practically purchased the Kings, however backed out when he was instructed he needed to maintain them in Sacramento. L.A. wouldn’t have observed if the Clippers have been gone. L.A.’s titles enable them to run the Metropolis of Champions. The one approach for the Clippers to make inroads is by the No. 2 group in L.A. ending the 12 months as No. 1.
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