What was supposed to be a championship-contending season for the Los Angeles Clippers has turned into a disaster. They still have an incredible roster on paper, but nothing has materialized into performance or results, which begs the question: is it time to officially pull the shutter on this version of the team and bring the Kawhi Leonard chapter to an end?
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Leonard was part of a scandal in the off-season involving owner Steve Ballmer, who allegedly paid $28 million to him under the table. Since then, they’ve fallen to a 6-17 record and are 13th in the West. Recently, the organization dug itself a deeper hole when it cut Chris Paul’s retirement tour short by waiving him mid-season. A terrible way to repay a superstar that made the franchise what it is today.
Paul Pierce feels that it’s time for the Clippers to tear it all town. He spoke about the Clippers woes on the latest edition of KG Certified alongside Kevin Garnett and pointed fingers at Leonard. He believes it’s time for LA to move from what has been a failed experiment.
“The Kawhi Leonard experiment is over,” said the Hall of Famer. “They set themselves back 10 years when they traded Shai-Gilgeous [Alexander]. I mean that was one of the all-time blunders that we are going to look back at and say, ‘Damn if they had kept Shai right now, how would they be looking with Shai, Kawhi, and whoever?”
Leonard’s time with the Clippers started in 2019 with sky-high expectations, but the results never quite matched the hype. He arrived as the superstar meant to lift the franchise to its first-ever Finals, yet constant injuries kept him off the floor during crucial stretches. Even in seasons where he looked dominant, he rarely stayed healthy long enough to carry the team through a full playoff run. He was fit last year, but LA couldn’t get by the Denver Nuggets in a grueling 7-game series.
So Pierce was right. Kawhi is now 34 and is only soaking up the team’s cap salary, on top of the reportedly illegal funds he obtained over the years. But even blowing it all up and starting over will not make Clippers ownership forget how they once had Shai on their team. Pierce added that the Oklahoma City star is going to continue to make them pay for it.
“That was a blunder right there. They kicking themselves. Shai is going to be winning multiple-MVPs and titles right now. Doc knew it when he was there,” stated the Truth.
SGA might get that second MVP this year. He has the Thunder at a league-best 22–1 record. The only time they have lost was against Portland, and even in that game, they lost by just two points. In his last five games, Shai has dropped 33, 38, 26, 37, and 40. That is crazy consistency, and he shows no signs of slowing down.
So yeah, when stacked up, it is pretty clear the Clippers are stuck living with the consequences of every gamble they have made over the last few years. The Kawhi era did not deliver the rings, the CP3 reunion blew up before it even started, and watching SGA turn into a world-destroyer somewhere else has to sting every single night.
At this point, tearing it down might be the only move left that actually makes sense. And if they do not commit to a real reset soon, the Clippers might just find themselves sinking even deeper into a hole they dug with their own decisions.
