A supposed championship-contending season for the Los Angeles Clippers has turned into a disaster. Their incredible roster, at least on paper, hasn’t performed or produced results, begging the question: Is it time to pull the shutter on this version of the team and bring the Kawhi Leonard chapter to an end?
Leonard was central in the scandal involving owner Steve Ballmer that broke during the offseason. Ballmer allegedly paid $28 million to Leonard under the table. Once the season started, the Clippers fell 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 who made the franchise what it is today. All of this has prompted Paul Pierce to say that it’s time for the Clippers to tear it all down.
Pierce believes it’s time for LA to move from what has been a failed experiment with Leonard. “The Kawhi Leonard experiment is over,” said the Hall of Famer on the latest edition of KG Certified alongside Kevin Garnett.
“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?” added Pierce.
Leonard’s time with the Clippers started in 2019 with sky-high expectations, arriving as the superstar who would lift them to their first-ever Finals. But 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.
Leonard was fit last year, but LA couldn’t get by the Denver Nuggets in a grueling 7-game series. So Pierce is right. Kawhi is now 34 and is only soaking up the team’s cap salary, in addition to the alleged 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 [are] kicking themselves. Shai is going to be winning multiple MVPs and titles right now. Doc knew it when he was there,” stated Pierce.
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.
When stacked up, it is pretty clear that 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, and 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 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 themselves.