Comments on: Clippers vs Timberwolves Preview: An Icy Visit to Minneapolis

By: osamu6238

osamu6238 — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 10:31:56 +0000

I really hope you’re right, and the reason why I think this FO is not going to give up on Kawhi easily. When right he’s at worst a top-10 player and someone you still feel like you can build a championship team around.

I still think if another team thinks of him that way and pays up for that level of player, you have to consider it. I say conversation would start at 2 first round picks, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this front office feels like conversation should start a 3 first round picks plus a player.

We’ve seen lesser stars get moved for similar packages, Rudy Gobert, Mikal Bridges, Donovan Mitchell (given age, I understand he had more value), Kevin Durant (to Suns, probably the most similar to the Kawhi scenario given age and injuries), James Harden (to Brooklyn, and I guess to Philly depending on what you thought of Simmons value).

If Kawhi keeps up this level of play and finishes the year healthy, he should be like 2nd team all-NBA (top-10 player). Just would be interesting to know how his injury history and enigmatic personality impacts his value.

I definitely would not be surprised if the Clippers value him more than any other team in the league.

By: osamu6238

osamu6238 — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 09:36:55 +0000

When I think foot problems in the NBA, I can’t think of a lot of guards that have had chronic issues. I mean you immediately think of Bill Walton and Yao Ming. I think more recently guys like Chet and Zion have had foot injuries, but again both rather large guys. So I hope he benefits from being a smaller guy and can get the right shoes/braces to minimize further injury.

I mean I guess he can just be “injury prone” and have it be frustrating, but hopefully they get him right and can prove it’s not something chronic or career altering. Wasn’t long ago, people worried if Steph would have a long career due to repeated ankle injuries.

Made me realize New Balance now has the top two stars on the Clippers. Forming team New Balance over here.

By: dhpat

dhpat — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 07:41:27 +0000

Appreciate the contrarian take here.

Kawhi is an amazing talent, but his health cannot be guaranteed. It has failed us many times.

Zu trade might the only thing that redeems trading away Shai.

By: John Maclean

John Maclean — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 05:32:11 +0000

Yes re sample size. Maybe tomorrow they run that again. I’m still a bit surprised Houston is favored by 7.5 given how badly Kawhi roasted them the last time, how erratic they’ve been, and how amazing our defense was in Minny. They should definitely be favored but I would have expected more like 4.5.

Perhaps yesterday was a fluke but I’m kind of feeling like we should get one of these next two. Our spirit has been way better than I could have imagined after gutting so much of the roster. This is one aspect of coaching I give TL a lot of credit for.

Harden’s Cavs beat Nuggets in Denver. They will continue to gel over the next two months and really got a shot to get to the finals.

By: chogokin

chogokin — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:36:58 +0000

Yea we need a bigger sample size of DJJ and Dunn. The Clippers as a team were blazing hot from 3 against the TWolves, so I wouldn’t wanna make any hard judgments based on that game alone.

By: John Maclean

John Maclean — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:08:50 +0000

I’m not too worried about this. There’s no way they would have put his salary on the books if they also believed this was a season-ending ailment and /or it’s going to be chronic problem. I think they are doing what they always do with injuries and that’s being overly cautious. I also believe there’s a silver lining to this insofar as giving Ty too many players to work into the rotation hasn’t gone well, and getting Mathurin going first will be a smoother way to ease into things.

The other wrinkle in all of this now is how great DJ and Dunn were starting together. This flies in the face of the modern NBA but perhaps having two defensive aces in the backcourt to disrupt the other side might be a net gain. They still have to hit open threes but as long as they are it’s pretty cool to watch.

By: KingAlfonse

KingAlfonse — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 21:55:54 +0000

Kawhi has ended up on a worse version of the ’18-19′ squad he made us gut the future of to join. All that team needed was to swap out Tobias Harris w/ Kawhi and add around the edges and it would’ve been a WCF contender w/ picks to retool/reload. Instead it all went out the door for a podcasting bum.

By: KingAlfonse

KingAlfonse — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 21:51:29 +0000

Feet problems at his age and size are no bueno. Seems like we’ve got another injury-prone dud we’ll be lucky to do anything else w/ on our hands.

By: khyber jones

khyber jones — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 21:07:46 +0000

I’d say ‘no’ if we don’t get the 2026 first round pick. I’d be a ‘maybe’ to ‘mild yes’ if we do. I still think this team’s goal is to build around Kawhi.

By: khyber jones

khyber jones — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 21:06:11 +0000

While I’ve been aligned at times to your view, I think if you look at what the FO has done to help revive and extend Kawhi’s career, they’ve been successful beyond their imagination. The body of work over the course of this year and the last month of last season tell us that this is a different, and I’d say better, player on the offensive side of the ball.

I’ve commented many times that Kawhi looks more physically durable now with his training regimen, and his game has adjusted. I think LAC has created a player who will be less injury prone and score more points per possession than the guy they signed in 2019. He’s a top 5 player. Look around the league and you really can’t 4 better players since Dec 20th not named SGA (and SGA is hurt right now).