Head coach Tyronn Lue thought having Kawhi Leonard back in the fold would help turn around the Clippers‘ disappointing season, but that hasn’t happened over the past four games, observes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. Los Angeles has dropped all four contests since Leonard returned and is now 5-15 after losing at home to a struggling Dallas team on Saturday.
“I know we’ve had some tough circumstances in the last five years, which is six years, but I have been able to figure it out. But this year, it’s been tough,” Lue said.
Lue has tried several different lineup combinations over the first 20 games, Carr writes, but none have been effective. With an injured and aging roster, both the present and future are looking pretty bleak, leading to fans on social media calling for major changes, including the ouster of Lue. Fans aren’t the only ones who are frustrated.
“The situation here is difficult,” James Harden said. “We’re not making shots offensively. Defensively, we just allow game-plan mistakes, we allow that to happen too many times, so that’s one of the reasons why we lose games.”
Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- On the other end of the spectrum, the Suns have been one of the most surprising teams in a positive way through the first quarter of the season. As Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic writes, Phoenix was widely projected to miss the playoffs in 2025/26, and those predictions looked accurate after the team started out 1-4. However, the Suns have gone 11-5 since and are currently 12-9, making them the No. 7 seed in the West. Whether the team’s success is sustainable remains to be seen, but Phoenix has dealt with its share of injuries as well and continues to find ways to remain competitive with players out.
- The 13-4 Rockets have the NBA’s second-best offense despite attempting the fewest three-pointers in the league and not shooting well on their two-point tries, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic. Houston’s unusual offensive strategy is reliant on dominating the boards, which leads to extra shot attempts — the Rockets are outrebounding their opponents by more than 10 per game, with most of that work coming on the offensive glass.
- Injured star Victor Wembanyama has been cheering on the Spurs as he continues to recover from a calf strain, per Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News. The French big man has been leading the team’s supporter section — nicknamed “The Jackals” — during recent home games. In fact, Wembanyama came up with the idea of the section and hand-picked the captains over the summer, McDonald writes. “The saying goes, when people show you who they are, believe them,” head coach Mitch Johnson said. “He’s been committed and invested. He’s trusted. He’s worked. He’s had his actions back up his words. It’s awesome.”
The Rockets play their 1st B2B of the season tonight – but with no travel, playing the same Jazz team they blew out last night.
It’s sad that the league gives some teams such a huge advantage to start the season while the Warriors have already played 5 B2Bs and will play their 6th before the Rockets play their 1st B2B where they actually have to travel.
Where were you last year when the rockets played the most back to backs of any team? Including a stretch where all they played were back to backs
Its time to break up the Clippers. Cap be damned, Harden to the Rockets, Kawai to the Magic, Jones to the Bulls, Zubak to the Suns.
Rockets don’t need nor want Harden
Other than Jones to the Bulls, none of your trade proposals is feasible. Rockets and Magic don’t have cap space for major trade, and Suns don’t have draft picks to deal. And Rockets don’t want Harden as Dave said.
Suns don’t need a thing thanks!
Suns don’t want nor need Zubak. You guys should use some $ to buy Balmer a clue, he has first year Ishbia disease in that he th8ngs whatever over the hill guys he throws out will win.