The LA Clippers' power struggle is much uglier than anyone expected

The LA Clippers just can't help themselves. Every time you think this organization has hit rock bottom, they somehow find a way to drill deeper into the dysfunction. The latest revelations about the Chris Paul divorce are chef's kiss levels of organizational incompetence, and they paint a picture of a franchise that has completely lost the plot.

Chris Paul's valid suggestions backfired completely

Here's the thing that makes the Jeff Van Gundy-Chris Paul confrontation so deliciously absurd: Paul was literally doing what veteran leaders are supposed to do. During the Mavericks game on November 29th, Kawhi Leonard was struggling to keep up with Klay Thompson in the fourth quarter.

Leonard was on a minutes restriction and had just checked back in cold. Paul noticed this and suggested to Leonard that they might want to switch the matchup until he's warmed up.

You know, basic basketball IQ stuff that happens on every team in the league.

But not on Tyronn Lue's LA Clippers. The next day on the team plane, assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy called a meeting with Paul and confronted him about changing the defensive assignment. Paul clarified that he didn't change anything; he simply suggested an adjustment. Van Gundy's response? "You might have had leeway in other places to change up defensive coverages, but you don't have that leeway here."

Let that sink in. A 12-time All-Star and future Hall-of-Famer, who has forgotten more about basketball than most coaches will ever know, was essentially told to take a step back for making a completely reasonable in-game suggestion while the team was losing.

The Clippers had a clash of personalities behind the scenes

The Jeff Van Gundy incident wasn't isolated; it was reportedly one of several verbal dust-ups between Chris Paul and the coaching staff. And here's where it gets really concerning: Tyronn Lue refused to meet with Paul when the veteran requested a sit-down to address allegations that he was being a "negative presence" on the team.

Yes, a head coach refused to meet with one of his players.

If you're the head coach of a team that's 6-18 and circling the drain, and one of your veteran leaders wants to talk, you take that meeting. It just speaks to the leadership running the LA Clippers at this moment.

The coaching staff's inability to handle even the mildest form of player input exposes a fundamental insecurity. Van Gundy telling Paul he doesn't have "leeway" here suggests that the Clippers' coaching infrastructure is so brittle, so fragile, that a single suggestion from a player can shatter it completely.

The Clippers are the franchise that never learns

Blake Griffin weighed in on the Chris Paul situation, saying he was "disappointed in the Clippers' organization" for the lack of communication. Of course, he was disappointed. Griffin knows exactly how this franchise operates. They convinced him he was "LA Clipper royalty" in 2017, then traded him to Detroit six months later.

Lou Williams, another Clippers legend, said the handling of Paul "looks bad on the Clippers' part." That's putting it mildly. This is an organization that put out a tribute video for Paul proclaiming "CP3 will end his Hall of Fame career at home" with a heart emoji, then sent him packing in the middle of the night, days later.

The Clippers have a foundation built on broken promises. They don't value loyalty, communication, and veteran leadership.

Chris Paul's ending was the cherry on top to an eventful season

The Chris Paul saga isn't just about one player. It's a symptom of a much larger disease: the LA Clippers' organization has no idea what it's doing. They assembled the oldest roster in NBA history, average age 33.2 years, and convinced themselves that veterans like Brook Lopez (37), Paul (40), and Bradley Beal were somehow going to revitalize a team that desperately needed youth and athleticism.

They traded away Norman Powell, who's now recording 30-point games for Miami, for John Collins, who has been a complete disaster. They brought in all these Hall of Famers and All-Stars, then created a toxic environment where veteran leadership is not maximized.

And now, with the season effectively over at 6-18, they're stuck. They can't tank because Oklahoma City owns their pick, rebuild because they have no draft capital through 2029, and develop young players because Tyronn Lue refuses to play guys like Cam Christie and Yanic Konan Niederhauser.

The Clippers are a franchise in complete chaos, and Paul's fiasco is just the latest chapter in a story that never seems to end.