The 2025 NBA Playoffs are just a few days away, with the top-six seeds in the NBA waiting to see the result of the Play-In Tournament. The race to secure a spot in the top six of the West came down to the wire, but the Los Angeles Clippers succeeded. They ended their season on an eight-game win streak and defeated the Golden State Warriors in a must-win final game of the season to secure the No. 5 seed.
Gilbert Arenas named the Clippers as dark-horse contenders on the latest episode of ‘Gil’s Arena,’ specifically saying how them avoiding the Lakers in a 3-6 matchup is why he feels they have an edge.
“Nobody wanted to play the Lakers, so they were fighting hard to get out of the Lakers’ way. From the trade deadline, when they got Ben Simmons and some of the other pieces like adding Kawhi, you can see everybody gelling and playing well. To me, they’re the dark-horse in the West.”
Gil says that the Clippers are the dark horse in the West 👀 pic.twitter.com/JU8vMfVjsl
— Gil’s Arena (@GilsArenaShow) April 14, 2025
The Clippers finishing as the No. 5 seed means they get to face the No. 4 seed Denver Nuggets instead of the No. 3 seeded Lakers. The Nuggets might have the best player of this generation on their roster with Nikola Jokic, but they also have an internal crisis that led to both their head coach and GM getting fired less than 10 days before the NBA Playoffs.
The Nuggets are a better matchup for the Clippers in the first-round, and being the No. 4 seed ensures they can’t face the Lakers until the Conference Finals. While this does put them in the path of the No. 1 seed OKC Thunder in the second-round, Arenas believes the Clippers have a better chance against OKC than the Lakers.
The Lakers went 3-0 against the Clippers this season after the Luka Doncic trade, with the team not having enough firepower to keep up with the Lakers.
But they’ll likely face similar struggles against the Thunder. They lost all four games to the Thunder during the season. This is despite them being hypothetically well-suited to stop Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s production and limit everyone else’s. We haven’t seen that in practice this season, and this is something they can’t do against both Luka Doncic and LeBron James in LA.
Both of these teams are likely the biggest threats for the Clippers. A very strong case can be made that they can beat the remaining five teams in the West, but unless they can beat these two, their title hopes are likely remaining unfulfilled. Beating the Thunder is a more immediate priority, as it’s their likely second-round matchup.
The Clippers could struggle against the Nuggets in the first round. They’ll hope James Harden and Kawhi Leonard can carry the offensive production alongside Norman Powell. Ivica Zubac will have a huge defensive role to play, as will defense-oriented stars like Derrick Jones Jr. and Ben Simmons.
