Hopes were high entering this season for the Los Angeles Clippers after Kawhi Leonard powered them to seven games in the first round of the 2025 playoffs, but those hopes quickly evaporated. With a quarter of the season out of the way, LA is 13th in the West with a 5-15 record. It doesn't matter how well Kawhi is playing now that he's back; the Clippers are a lost cause.
On the "Game Theory Podcast w/ Sam Vecenie," Vecenie said that he wanted to see Kawhi "get into a rhythm" and "figure things out." Vecenie thought Los Angeles would be fine once Kawhi returned, but even though he dropped 39 points against the Grizzlies on Nov. 28 and 30 against the Mavericks the following night, the Clippers lost both games. Both Memphis and Dallas are outside of the top eight in the conference, so it's not like the losses were against top teams.
Vecenie shouted out James Harden, who is averaging 27.7 points and 8.9 assists per game, saying that if you looked at Kawhi and Harden's numbers alone, you'd assume that LA was a "really good" team. Think again.
Yes, Kawhi has played only 10 games due to a foot and ankle injury, but his availability doesn't change the fact that the Clippers' defense is putrid. Los Angeles' defensive rating is 119.4, 25th in the West, after it finished third in the league last season with a 109.4 rating. Derrick Jones Jr.'s return will help, but it won't be enough. The Clippers aren't young, nor are they athletic.
Even Kawhi Leonard can't fix the Clippers' mess
Los Angeles faced an uphill battle trying to contend in what everyone thought would be the far superior conference, but even with Dallas and Golden State's struggles, the Clippers still sit at the bottom of the barrel. They can't even look forward to their 2026 first-round pick in what is a stacked draft lottery class, as they owe that pick to the Thunder.
Just when you thought it couldn't get worse.
Oh, and there is still an ongoing NBA investigation into whether the Clippers helped facilitate Kawhi's no-show sponsorship deal with Aspiration. Kawhi and the team have denied any wrongdoing, for what it's worth.
There really is no light at the end of the tunnel for LA. It seemed like there was one last season, but it was just a figment of your imagination, apparently. The Clippers "won" the 2025 offseason, which shows you can't judge a team until they take the court. The first game of the season was a 129-108 blowout loss against the Jazz. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a sign of what was to come.