Paul George just got traded to the 76ers, Kawhi and the Clippers NBA experiment failed.

It all went so wrong. The Clippers didn’t even make the finals in 4 years, *but why?* Why did these Clippers fail? That’s because the entire world failed to account for one big thing, something we should have seen from the beginning *and that’s what we need to talk* about this week, to serve as a warning to never fall for the trap again.

There are 3 pieces to the downfall of the Clippers, but before we get to some of the biggest issues on the Clippers, we would be remiss to not mention one of the only runs the Clippers had where they had both Paul George and Kawhi Leonard healthy, 2020.

The Clippers would finish second in the Western Conference Finals, they had a 72% win rate when Kawhi and PG played together, they were dominant. Kawhi averaged 27.1 points, PG with 21.5, Lou Williams with 18.2, Harrell with 18.6 who would be 6th man of the year.make the second round of the playoffs despite Paul George struggling and I mean struggling (*lowlight).*

But here’s where Piece #1 comes in.

And Max Kellerman, I still want my public apology.

Doc Rivers was not meant to lead the Clippers. His leadership didn’t keep the team calm nor did he develop offensive schemes that held up, as you’re about to see.

But perhaps the key reason for the Clippers downfall was obvious. Kawhi was the king of load management. He had just won a championship with a completely new team Raptors in 2019 while load managing. Paul George also would miss several games and they only played 43 of 72 games.

And so going into the playoffs they realize, oh despite our insanely talented roster, we don’t have chemistry. Kawhi led the Clippers with 4.9 assists? Oh we didn’t figure out our weaknesses of not having a floor general or play starter until the playoffs. Shiii

*But what I’m about to say next should be alarming.* Over the last 5 seasons, of a possible 410 regular season games, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum played 290 games, Giannis and Middleton played 246 games, Jokic and Murray have played 224, even LeBron and Anthony Davis played 210. Kawhi and Paul George played 181 games together, 44% of their games.

This is what I said in 2023.

Oh… and this year, Kawhi played 68 games, the most he has with the Clippers. PG Harden and Westbrook are healthy.

*But 2024 was different because they had James Harden.* They had one of the best playmakers in the NBA. This was a super team. But without Kawhi, PG or Harden had to be the main scoring option and while that can work for a game or two, it’s hard for a series. Especially since we’ve seen Harden’s recent body of work… 9 points in a game 7…yikes.

Because we haven’t gotten to what they lost in this, piece #3, and no it wasn’t just the last 5 seasons.

Kawhi Leonard was a star on the Spurs. Former MVP candidate that was doing it on both ends in 2017. Game winning 3, game winning block. But that was before injuries took hold. They saw the Spurs saga where Kawhi straight up also refused to play, but gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Paul George had his health scares. This health report is insane, it’s a lot of small and big injuries, the shoulder surgery, knee sprain, the injury that shall not be named.