It’s been a few days since the Clippers lost in the first round of the play-in, and at least some of the dust has settled on what was ultimately a very disappointing season for the team. Here are a few thoughts on things to look out for in the coming weeks and other assorted items as we start pivoting towards the offseason.
It’s Ok the Clippers Missed Out on the Playoffs
The Clippers blowing the play-in game to an old and not very good Warriors team in the 4th quarter was definitely a bit humiliating and not the way anyone wanted the season to end, but at the end of the day, it’s fine that the Clippers didn’t move on. Even if they had beaten the Suns in the second play-in game to get to the playoffs proper, a beatdown at the hands of the Thunder would not have been a much better note to end the season on. The Clippers were just a very middling team to close the season, and even after one day of watching the playoffs, they would not have belonged on that stage, much less opposing the Thunder. I would have liked to have gotten the Clippers’ young players some playoff reps, but this team was not going anywhere anyway.
Circle May 10
The next huge date on the Clippers’ calendar is Sunday, May 10, which is when the NBA will hold the draft lottery for the 2026 draft. As I’m sure everyone reading this knows, the Clippers will get the Pacers’ first round pick if it does not fall in the top 4. The Pacers pick has a 27.8% chance of landing at 5 and 20.1% chance of landing at 6. Overall, that gives the Clippers a 47.9% chance of getting the pick, an outcome that would completely change the trajectory of the franchise and would determine the course of the rest of their summer.
If the Clippers get the pick, do they take a player with it? Do they trade down out of the 5-6 pick range (filled with point guards) to somewhere a bit later to take a player that fits cleaner with Darius Garland and maybe pick up another asset? Do they trade out of the draft entirely for a veteran player that is more on Garland’s timeline? I would hope they actually take a player somewhere in the lottery, as this is a stacked draft and the Clippers haven’t had a lottery pick since 2018. While the Clippers not getting this pick wouldn’t be the end of the world, as it would transform into the Pacers’ 2031 1st rounder, it would be very, very nice to get this asset in the door to jumpstart the franchise’s transformation.
Playoff Rooting Interests
It’s hard rooting for any team in the Western Conference. I don’t like the Spurs, Nuggets, Rockets, Lakers, Wolves, Blazers, or Suns for various reasons, and the Thunder winning again would look even worse for the Clippers. Ultimately, I still have fondness for Shai and I like most of the rest of the Thunder roster outside of Lu Dort, so I’ll probably be rooting for the Thunder in the West. After them, I’d like the Wolves to beat the Nuggets in the first round, though that’s looking a bit unlikely after a tough Game 1 loss.
In the East, rooting interests for me are a bit clearer. I don’t think the Cavs will win it all, but I’m sure rooting for James Harden to prove his haters wrong and make a deep playoff run. After the Cavs, I live in Michigan and really enjoy this Pistons team, so they’d be my second choice. I don’t love the Knicks in general, but Karl-Anthony Towns is inexplicably hated and seems like a great guy, so I root for him in particular. And then, I must say, I still have fondness for the Sixers after my time in Philly, so I will be rooting for them to pull off an upset against the Celtics. Those would be my teams in the East, in that order, with disdain for the Celtics and Raptors and thoroughly indifferent thoughts for the Magic and Hawks.
Blog Stuff
We will start moving into the usual end-of-season Exit Interviews, where we go over the seasons of all Clippers’ players who had real roles on this team (i.e. nothing for TyTy Washington). I will probably start with players who are no longer on the team before diving into the stalwarts.
I will not start doing draft prospect previews until the Clippers’ draft pick situation is decided after the lottery: I do not want to jinx the Clippers by doing in-depth draft work only for them to not get the pick this year. If the Clippers do get the Pacers’ pick, content will shift heavily towards the draft, as the 5th or 6th pick will be the most important Clippers’ draft selection since at least 2018 with SGA and Jerome Robinson and possibly since Blake Griffin in 2009. It’s a big, big deal.
Aspiration Fallout
The season has come and gone, and we still do not how if the Clippers are getting punished for the Aspiration scandal that was broken by Pablo Torre back in the fall. One would hope that a determination would be made sometime soon, as if the Clippers are punished in some material way (loss of draft picks, Kawhi contract changes, major fines/hits to cap space, etc.) they will need to plan their offseason accordingly. There have been at varying times rumors that the Clippers will get hammered and that they will be fine, but nothing even close to definitive will probably be known until the NBA reveals the actual conclusion of the investigation. Once we know more, we will talk about it, but until then there is no point in speculating.
