Lakers: The Clippers Are On The Opposite Trajectory Of Their More Famous Roommates
How about this Western Conference, folks?
On Sunday night, the Los Angeles Clippers -- your Los Angeles Lakers' try-hard little brother roommates -- just lost their sixth straight game, this time a close 112-108 heartbreaker at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks.
The Lakers, as you'll no doubt recall, just defeated the Hawks -- twice!-- in the span of eight days. The Lakers are also riding high on a five-game winning streak of their own, aiming for an improbable sixth consecutive victory against a tough Denver Nuggets club, the class conference. LA has beaten Denver once before this season, but they had a healthy Anthony Davis back then... for a half, anyway.
But we digress. With the defeat, the Clippers have slid all the way to a .500 record, 21-21, which drops them to the seventh seed in the West. The Lakers' five straight victories have made them the 11th seed in the West with a 19-21 record, just one game (but four teams) behind the Clippers.
People can say what they want about how Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are injury-prone or are working their way into shape. It really does feel like the media gives that duo a bit more of a pass than it does Anthony Davis, who, while similarly injury-prone, bears the brunt of criticisms levied at Crypto.com Arena All-Stars.
In this instance, all those defeats can't be chalked up just to the absences of the team's two All-Star swingmen, as Leonard and George actually played in four of the Clippers' six straight losses (albeit not the same four). The team lost by an average margin of 10.8 points a night, although some of that was skewed by an absolutely atrocious 122-91 national TV disaster against the Denver Nuggets (which, when watched from the perspective of a non-Clippers fan, is pretty funny).
The Clippers front office, led by Lawrence Frank with presumably significant input from traitor Jerry West, has constructed what is presumably one of the deepest clubs in the league, a roster that could legitimately go 11 or 12 guys deep. But it's all for naught if the All-Stars can't bring it every night, and it sure doesn't seem like they can.
The Lakers, meanwhile, have a roster loaded down by three massive contracts (two for studs, one for a fun role player being paid like the stud he was), which forced team president Rob Pelinka to Frankenstein the team's remaining personnel with spare parts and castoffs. The club seems hesitant to flip some of its expiring money and future draft capital for more win-now help to support Lakers All-Star forward LeBron James. But the team has been sort of gelling anyway, buoyed in large part by the outsized contributions of supporting players Dennis Schröder and Thomas Bryant during this win streak.
Imagine if the Lakers had the help the Clippers had. Imagine if they still had the Clippers' starting center on their roster! Or even plus-minus god Mike Muscala, for whom they flipped said Clippers starting center at the trade deadline 2019.
Right now, only three games separate the 20-18 Sacramento Kings, the West's fifth seed, from the 18-22 Oklahoma City Thunder, the conference's 13th seed. LeBron James really, really wants Pelinka to give him some better-fitting pieces, over-performing minimum-salaried players aside. Maybe Pelinka doesn't need to sacrifice both of the Lakers' tradable future first-round draft picks, in 2027 and 2029, this season, but it sure would help the team to flip at least one of them for some help. Moving a pick, plus the deals of Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn, for either sharpshooting Detroit Pistons power forward Bojan Bogdanovic or 3-and-D Indiana Pacers center/power forward Myles Turner would sure make a heck of a lot of sense for LA. Would Indiana, who has been good but not great this season, disrupt its chemistry to flip Turner for future value? It sure sounds that way.
LeBron James (and Anthony Davis, if he can stay healthy) can absolutely make a playoff push this season, and he deserves some help in getting there.
