This is an opinion article. Nick Laudano is a student at Mendham who writes for the Sports section. All opinions expressed in the following editorial are her own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Patriot.

The Los Angeles Clippers were clearly the most disappointing team from this past NBA season and it was not even close.  Fresh off an offseason that saw them sign the 2019 finals MVP Kawhi Leonard, and trade for top 12 player Paul George the Clippers came into the 2019-2020 season with extremely high hopes.  With that being said they were unable to advance past the second round of the playoffs despite having a 3-1 series lead over the Denver Nuggets.  Due to the Clippers blowing a 3-1 lead they fired their longtime head coach Doc Rivers who has now blown 3,3-1 series leads.  Yesterday, the Clippers just promoted their number one assistant coach, and NBA champion, Ty Lue to head coach signing him to a 5-year deal.  The Clippers hope that Ty Lue can help lead them to a championship.  

Since blowing the 3-1 lead to the Nuggets some very interesting reports have come out about this team.  First, a report came out earlier this week about the owner Steve Ballmer wanting Jeff Van Gundy as head coach but the GM Jerry West wanted Ty Lue.  This is not the most concerning thing ever but it is still something to note because it is never a great sign to see the owner and gm not agree on something.

About a week after the Clippers were eliminated from the playoffs a report came out saying that some of the role players on the team felt like they were better than Paul George.  The media guessed that the “role players” were Lou Williams and Montrez Harrell.  This is a terrible thing to hear here if you are a Clippers fan because the reason why the Lakers won the title is that the role players knew their role and accepted it.  I am afraid that this group of role players are unable to do that which is a huge problem.

The final report that came out of Los Angeles is that players on the team were “bothered” with the special treatment Kwahi received from the coaching staff and front office.  Kawhi load managed throughout the year meaning every fourth game he would sit out.  Also, Kwahi lives in San Diego and he was late multiple times and the coaching staff seemed to not care neither did the front office.   The other players were “bothered” by that and if you know anything about working for a company then you can see how that would bother one of your co-workers.  At the end of the day, the NBA is a business and all of the players/employees want to be treated fairly.  

Now with all of that being said, the Clippers should blow this team-up.  First of all their fourth-best player, Montrez Harell is most likely leaving in free agency unless the Clippers overpay for him which would be worse than letting him walk.  This team has zero playmaking.  Their best playmaker is Lou Williams who is 6’1” and is unplayable late in playoff games because he is one of the five worst defenders in the league.  Also, Paul George is their second-best player on the team and everyone on the team no longer likes him because he was terrible in the playoffs and the role players feel as if they are just as good as him.  This Clippers completely destroyed their future in trading for Paul George by giving up 5 first-round picks.  Depending on who these first-round picks turn out to be this could be the worst trade in NBA history for the Clippers.  Also, the players are not the biggest fans of Kawhi because of the reasons I mentioned before.  

The Clippers should call bad to mediocre teams such as the Sun’s Pistons or Cavs and see if they can get a good Haul for Kawhi and or Paul George.  Now you might be asking why would one of these teams trade for Kawhi and or Paul George? The reason is that it makes your franchise relevant so you can sell tickets and compete for a playoff spot and add excitement to your franchise.  The Clippers gave away the future for Paul George; they should try and get some of it back.