The basketball gods haven’t been kind to the 2025–26 LA Clippers. They entered the season with real championship ambitions, backed by a stacked roster featuring James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Chris Paul, and Bradley Beal. But fate clearly wasn’t interested in letting both LA squads contend in the West.
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The Clippers are sitting at 5–15, stuck in 13th place in the conference. Beal is out for the year after undergoing hip surgery, and the rest of this aging roster just isn’t performing anywhere near expectations. The good news is the season is still young. The bad news? There’s absolutely no indication that anything is about to turn around.
This was the topic of conversation on the latest edition of the Run It Back program, where NBA veteran DeMarcus Cousins was asked to weigh in on the Clippers’ struggles. Boogie didn’t beat around the bush. He felt like he had pinpointed the problem, and it’s not the players or the coach. He opined that the blame should fall on executive Lawrence Frank.
“That’s the glaring issue that seems to keep getting overlooked in this scenario,” stated a frustrated Cousins. “When you think about the guys involved, when you think about the coach, he’s a champion. When you think about the franchise guy, he’s a champion.”
“And you look at this one dynamic that’s in the scenario that has never done anything in any position he’s been in to where he’s produced winning or championships. But he’s the decision maker who continues to change this team around every single year. They get worse and worse.”
Frank, a former coach, has been tied to the Clippers in one role or another since 2017. Their peak during his tenure was a Conference Finals run in 2021, and they’ve made the postseason in most of those years. So it’s not fair to say Frank hasn’t had success in LA. But Cousins isn’t wrong either. The Clippers’ ultimate goal has always been a championship, and that’s the one thing they’ve consistently fallen short of.
“He’s the decision maker that continues to change this team around every single year; they get worse and worse… It’s just not working.”
DeMarcus Cousins RIPPED Clippers executive Lawrence Frank
(via @RunItBackFDTV)pic.twitter.com/rUTr6CRFDS
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 1, 2025
“I don’t know how many more seasons we’ll have to go through before we start looking at this guy as the issue,” the former Golden State Warrior added. “It doesn’t go any further than him. I think a lot of things would be different if he weren’t at the head of the realm.”
Cousins does feel bad, though, for Leonard and Harden, considering how both future Hall of Famers don’t have many seasons left in them.
“I do feel bad for the stars in James Harden and Kawhi Leonard. These are proven guys that have won season after season since they’ve come into the league. They’re proven winners. It just sucks to see them in this scenario so late in their careers.”
The problem is whether removing Frank actually saves the Clippers from this season. It is still early, and if they put together a strong run, they can play themselves back into a decent position, either as a potential sixth seed or at the very least in the Play-In race.
Cousins is standing up for the players, which makes sense since he is a player himself. A change needs to happen one way or another, especially if the Clippers continue to rack up losses. Their latest defeat came against a depleted Mavericks team led by 18-year-old Cooper Flagg. If they cannot handle one of the weaker teams in the West, how are they supposed to survive even a single round in the playoffs?
Harden, Leonard, and CP3 have too much experience and determination to let this season slip away without a fight, however. At least, that is what one would expect from a group with this much star power. For now, all anyone can do is wait and see.
