Concerning statistic could be eerie sign for Clippers' season

As the LA Clippers gear up for Wednesday night's season opener at Intuit Dome, there is plenty to reflect on when it comes to their preseason. Going an impressive 4-1 in their exhibition contests, the Clippers showed their impressive potential at the defensive end, while questions lingered elsewhere.

Of course, things will always go back to Kawhi Leonard's health. LA's franchise player has been ruled out of the regular season opener and is sidelined indefinitely. However, the organization continues to believe that they have his situation under control, and there is cautious optimism he could be back before long.

Should Kawhi return to the floor in the next couple of weeks, the outlook could change overnight for the Clippers. But until he gets back, one of the biggest challenges this team will run into is generating more consistent looks on offense. Particularly, from behind the three-point line.

LA's offensive approach was suspect during the preseason as a whole, but their three-point numbers were especially concerning. During the first half of the preseason slate wherein the Clippers played rotations that we will realistically see in the regular season, they ranked 32nd in total attempts, per The Athletic's Law Murray.

The Clippers ranked dead last in three-point attempts in preseason

Some will pause at this number and ask how LA could have ranked 32nd out of 30 NBA teams. But two international clubs, the New Zealand Breakers and Ratiopharm Ulm, both also put up more three-point attempts than the Clippers during this stretch.

That is a highly concerning statistic. You can chalk this up to it being simply preseason play, but some numbers are so extreme that you have to wonder at what point they will begin to show up when the games count.

This is an area where losing Paul George hurts. Not only was PG putting up 7.9 threes per game last season, but he was creating plenty of looks for his teammates as well. Now, LA is sorely lacking a big wing like George that can get out on the perimeter and generate his own quality looks from outside the arc on a regular basis.

Again, bringing back Kawhi will help in this department, but even he will not totally fix this issue. If this trend continues once the Clippers are in regular season play, it is something the front office will have to look at addressing at the trade deadline in February.