‘Lost because Kawhi Leonard and Paul George missed games’: Clippers’ Tyronn Lue addresses locker room chemistry issues

Tyronn Lue says the Clippers’ chemistry was bad due to stars missing games, not because of their personal feelings towards one another.

With the Los Angeles Clippers 2019-20 NBA season crashing and burning in the mere 2^nd round of the Playoffs after blowing a 3-1 lead to the Nuggets, the Clippers looked to revamp certain aspects of their team.

The first change that took place was the firing of long time Clippers Head Coach Doc Rivers, and promoting assistant coach Tyronn Lue to Head Coach.

Also read: ‘Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to be staggered on court’: Ty Lue plans massive shakeup for Clippers stars next season

In Tyronn Lue’s first media availability as the newly appointed Head Coach for the Los Angeles Clippers, he discussed what went wrong in the Clippers locker room that led to such a disappointing end to their season.

Ty Lue has agreed to a deal to become the next coach of the Clippers. pic.twitter.com/J7O5VTvqTP

— NBA TV (@NBATV) October 15, 2020

‘Clippers lost because Kawhi Leonard and Paul George missed games’: Ty Lue

It has been known for a while that the Clippers locker room wasn’t the jolliest of them all, as reports came out that they had mixed feelings about Paul George giving them a pep talk after losing in the WCSF.

Also read: ‘Clippers are going to break their roster up’: NBA Agent provides worrying update about Kawhi Leonard and co

However, amongst all this, Tyronn Lue took to his virtual introductory press conference to dismiss the rumors that the Clippers players have any animosity towards one another.

Lue said, “I think when you talk about chemistry and continuity, it is not off the court, the guys not liking each other.”

He continued on by saying, “When you talk about chemistry, it is more so Paul George came in and he had shoulder surgery, so he was out. Kawhi came in and couldn’t participate in the whole training camp. Then we lost Patrick Beverley in and out of the lineup a few times.”

What are the Clippers’ locker room issues?

Tyronn Lue did not address the rumors surrounding the Clippers players’ reported ill feelings towards stars Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.

While the reports of animosity towards Kawhi Leonard because of Clippers providing him with special treatment was shunned aside by Montrezl Harrell and Lou Williams, not much has been said about Paul George’s locker room status.

The ‘Chemistry’ issue within the team question was dealt with brilliantly by Lue, who did not quite address the ‘Kawhi Leonard star treatment’ reports that had been coming through.

The Clippers locker room would have been broken post the defeat and player relationships were bound to be questioned. It will now be interesting to see if they can block the ‘noise’ from the outside and focus on the job at hand. Or else, shake up their roster and start afresh.