- Tyronn Lue admits that injury troubles have been highly disappointing
- Lue still has faith in Clippers’ success with a healthy roster
- Clippers are frustrated over underachieving performances
On paper, the Los Angeles Clippers have the deepest roster in the NBA. With two prime-time wing players and a slew of solid veterans backing them up, the Clips seemingly have everything they need to break their curse and bring a title to the franchise. Sadly, the unavailability of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George has held the Clippers back for years from achieving true success, and there is doubt that it will ever change.
But in a chat on Sirius XM NBA Radio, head coach Tyronn Lue laid down where expectations lie for his team and how he expects different results in 2024 than we’ve seen before: “We expect him [Kawhi] to be ready by training camp,” said Lue. “He’s done a great job of rehabbing and getting his body ready, and he will be ready when training camp hits. We just gotta be ready for training camp, with our medical staff making sure we’re doing the right thing. Same thing with PG. When those two guys play, we are an amazing team, and I don’t want tour fans to be disappointed because a lot of nights these guys are playing through injuries.”
The Clippers are expecting Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to be ready for training camp
When their head coach, Ty Lue, joined Frank Isola and Brian Scalabrine he gave an update on the superstars #ClipperNation pic.twitter.com/WD445rAyfb
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) September 3, 2023
The Clippers have been plagued with the injury bug for as long as anybody can remember. Since the Kawhi Leonard era, however, the injuries have been nonstop, and it’s become a recurring theme for the organization.
The Clippers are also famous for their embrace of load management, which has led to their stars missing games even while perfectly healthy.
Clippers Are ‘Frustrated’ Over Recent Struggles
It’s rare for a team as good as the Clippers to have such little to show for their efforts. Since adding Kawhi and PG back in 2019, the team only has a single appearance in the Conference Finals, where they lost against Chris Paul, Devin Booker, and the Phoenix Suns.
Despite their best efforts to succeed, injuries and load management have made it impossible for the Clippers to build chemistry together, and it has led to major frustration from those within the organization.
“I’ve been coaching for three years with the Clippers, and not in any of those three years were our best players healthy for the whole season,” said Lue. “That’s frustrating because we know we have a lot of talent, we know we have a chance to win, we just haven’t been able to see the finished product at the end of the season.”
After their loss this past summer, many fans gave up on calling the Clippers a title contender, but the organization still has faith that they can pull off something special together.
Are The Clippers Contenders Next Season?
We may be nearing the end of this chapter for the Clippers, but it’s not over quite yet. At 32 and 33, respectively, Kawhi and PG probably only have a few more years in their prime and these next seasons could be their last chance to capture that elusive ring before it’s all said and done.
According to Lue and others with the Clippers, the window has not closed yet. With the addition of Russell Westbrook, who signed after his trade from the Lakers, LA landed a true playmaker, scorer, and leader who can set an example for everybody.
Still, it’s Kawhi who will make the biggest difference. With just 52 games played last season, a healthy campaign has become a rarity for the All-NBA superstar. But if he can find his form from the 2019-20 campaign, where he averaged 27 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game, it could be enough to finally get the Clips where they want to be.
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