But that same identity has produced a reoccurring pattern: At point guard in particular, those relationships have rarely lasted.<\/p>\n
In recent years, a steady stream of veteran guards have passed through the LA Clippers, drawn by Lue\u2019s leadership and the promise of playing in his system. The list is long: Rajon Rondo, Eric Bledsoe, John Wall, Russell Westbrook, Ben Simmons. Each player has different r\u00e9sum\u00e9s and expectations \u2014 and, in most cases, similar endings: quiet departures with little sense of closure.<\/p>\n
Chris Paul is the latest example on that list.<\/p>\n
When Paul returned to the Clippers this past summer, he went out of his way to praise Lue, calling him one of the coaches teams have to game plan for. Four months later, Paul was gone \u2014 dismissed from the team while in Atlanta \u2014 and ultimately decided to end his NBA career, later lamenting on Carmelo Anthony\u2019s podcast<\/a> that he couldn\u2019t even get a meeting with Lue at the end.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s tough because a lot of times, these are guys that are your friends, that you\u2019ve been around for your whole careers, so you never want to see it get back, you know?\u201d Lue told The Athletic in January. \u201cI can\u2019t help what people think publicly. Just what happens internally and what\u2019s best for both parties.\u201d<\/p>\n That tension has come to define Lue\u2019s tenure with the Clippers. But now, for the first time in years, he has something different to look forward to. His Clippers, after starting the season a disastrous 6-21, finished 42-40 and are the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference Play-In Tournament.<\/p>\n HISTORIC TURNAROUND FOR THE CLIPPERS!<\/p>\n When the Clippers were 6-21 on December 20, Ty Lue, ahead of a game against the Lakers, told the media, “Our main focus is to try to be 35-20 the rest of the way.”<\/p>\n The rest of the way, Los Angeles went 36-19, becoming the first team in NBA\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/sE0oNY0Z2H<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 NBA (@NBA) April 13, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n He also has Darius Garland, a new, in-his-prime point guard to build with, not just manage.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving a young point guard under my tutelage is the first time I\u2019ve really had it since Kyrie (Irving),\u201d Lue said. \u201cIt\u2019s gonna be fun.\u201d<\/p>\n That distinction matters most with Garland. After Tyronn Lue was fired by the Cavaliers in 2018, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul introduced him to Garland, then just 19 and newly drafted.<\/p>\n They crossed paths again months later at a Las Vegas comedy show during Garland\u2019s first NBA Summer League.<\/p>\n \u201cWe went to the Dave Chappelle show in Vegas, and we just hit it off right there,\u201d Garland told The Athletic. \u201cIt just happened naturally, really.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Tyronn Lue and Darius Garland with Dave Chappelle. (Photo courtesy of Tyronn Lue)<\/p>\n That human connection is one of Lue\u2019s greatest strengths. Around the league, he\u2019s described as a player\u2019s coach and someone who understands the game but, most importantly, listens and gives players the space to be themselves. Garland witnessed that connection firsthand.<\/p>\n \u201cHe just really rolled the ball out and let me go play first,\u201d Garland said. \u201cHe wanted me to be with these guys, and they opened their arms with joy. I keep saying it\u2019s like the first day of school, but it was like I knew everybody in the school already, because they really welcomed me in this locker room. They want us to do well. \u2026 \u2018Man, just go be you, just go be comfortable in your own skin.\u2019 So, it was an easy transition.\u201d<\/p>\n Lue knows that letting a player be himself means enforcing structure while tolerating some mistakes. In Garland\u2019s case, that means taking an aspirin when there\u2019s a live-ball turnover from overdribbling, but acknowledging when he comes back the very next possession and hitting a 35-foot buzzer-beater.<\/p>\n That isn\u2019t just a hypothetical. That\u2019s a real sequence from a March win against the Toronto Raptors.<\/p>\n \u201cCoaching great players has taught me how to always be sharp, be on my toes,\u201d Lue said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re dealing with great players, a lot of times, they understand what\u2019s going on before you do. So, when I\u2019m doing my scouts or I\u2019m doing stuff to prepare for the next team, I\u2019ve got to understand what\u2019s going to be the second question, what\u2019s the third question. Why are we doing this? What can we do different? Always try to stay ahead of the game. When you\u2019re dealing with great players, they always make sure that you\u2019re sharp and on top of your game.\u201d<\/p>\n With Garland, that approach isn\u2019t just about maximizing production. It\u2019s about building continuity, something that has been difficult to sustain with veteran guards who arrive with established roles and expectations.<\/p>\n This time around, Lue isn\u2019t adapting to a guard on a short clock. He\u2019s working with one on a long one.<\/p>\n Lue\u2019s approach with Garland isn\u2019t an outlier. It reflects how he has operated his entire career. He\u2019s a two-time NBA champion as a player \u2014 a point guard \u2014 and added a third championship in 2016 as head coach of the Cavaliers. He\u2019s the only Clippers head coach in team history to reach a conference finals. His NBA coaching career has now spanned parts of 10 seasons as a head coach, the last six with the Clippers.<\/p>\n He won a championship in Cleveland with Irving, then lost him for the 2017-18 season. Lue\u2019s managed veteran-heavy rosters and big personalities. Through it all, he has remained steadfast.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re struggling, you\u2019ve got to be even-keeled,\u201d Lue said. \u201cI don\u2019t think you can beat up a team that\u2019s struggling, that\u2019s going through a lot, especially when they\u2019re giving everything they have. And when you\u2019re shorthanded and you\u2019re limited, it\u2019s gonna be tough nights. I just gotta keep encouraging our guys, continue to keep giving them confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n Across the league, many of his peers see a coach who processes the game in the moment, and someone who keeps his players honest.<\/p>\n \u201cTy is a great coach,\u201d Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. \u201cI\u2019ve never been around a guy who can see the pictures of what\u2019s happening on the floor, like in real time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe tries to keep things in perspective,\u201d New York Knicks coach Mike Brown said. \u201cIf he needs to let somebody know pretty pointedly, I feel like Ty is the type of guy that will do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Perhaps the strongest endorsement of Lue has come from associate head coach and de facto defensive coordinator Jeff Van Gundy, who was the head coach for the Houston Rockets when Lue was a player in 2004. Van Gundy doesn\u2019t speak often to the media, but in his first news conference at a practice while substituting for Lue, he made it clear what he thought of Lue\u2019s detractors past and present.<\/p>\n \u201cI had the good fortune of coaching Ty, and he\u2019s one of the most beloved people, both as a player and as a coach, that you could ever come across,\u201d Van Gundy said last month. \u201cIf you don\u2019t like Ty? You\u2019re the asshole. I aspire to, in my later years, be more like him, and I\u2019ve learned a lot from him. He\u2019s not only a brilliant coach, but the thing I think he gets that eludes others is that he wants happiness and success for everybody. And I believe that is the key to life.<\/p>\n \u201cHe exemplifies it every day, with every player and every staff member.\u201d<\/p>\n That steadiness is why the Clippers organization has never wavered, even despite the Clippers not winning a playoff series since 2021. Even with Lue\u2019s critics pointing to blown leads, his willingness to give substandard lineups extended run and young players rarely breaking through, and his communication being criticized, a recurring item of feedback<\/a> that came up again in the wake of Paul\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n Team owner Steve Ballmer has always loved Lue, arming him with a contract that makes him highly paid through 2029.<\/p>\n \u201cT. Lue is gonna be here a long, long time,\u201d Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said in February. \u201cWhen we had the presser after when we were talking about the CP decision, and there were questions \u2026 no. Through the good and the bad, we\u2019re gonna work through all this together, and he\u2019s been a great partner.\u201d<\/p>\n Lue\u2019s stars, too, believe in him. In Cleveland, that was LeBron James. With the Clippers, that has been Kawhi Leonard.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s doing a good job,\u201d Leonard said of Lue in January. \u201cI know he\u2019s frustrated at times, you know? We\u2019re not doing what he\u2019s telling us to do on the floor. We have those headache moments, bad-decision moments. But he\u2019s still staying positive and showing up every day.\u201d<\/p>\n Even this season, people had their doubts. After opening the season 6-21, second-guessing Lue was easy to do. Fans expressed displeasure over his management of games. They called for his firing on social media. Inside the locker room, however, the response looked different.<\/p>\n After losing 19 of 22 games, the Clippers responded by becoming the first team in NBA history to get back over .500 after being 15 games under .500 in the same season, finding themselves in the middle of the Western Conference standings along the way. They extended the NBA\u2019s longest active streak of winning seasons to 15 in the process, the fourth-longest in NBA history.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat excites me the most is that we didn\u2019t give up,\u201d Lue said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t give in. Started with a tough Lakers team, and we beat some good teams in that stretch. Just the work they consistently put in.\u201d<\/p>\n All of that work will be measured in the Play-In Tournament on Wednesday, when the No. 9 seeded Clippers face off against the No. 10 seeded Golden State Warriors. The winner of that game will play the loser of Tuesday\u2019s game between No. 7 Phoenix and No. 8 Portland.<\/p>\n For Lue, the question is no longer whether his players trust him. They do. It\u2019s whether that trust will hold up in the postseason, when the adjustments are narrower and the margin for inconsistency shrinks. Because what\u2019s at stake now is whether he can turn that trust into results and finally quiet the questions that have followed him during his Clippers\u2019 tenure.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_3468-scaled-e1775750043937.jpg\")
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