The Los Angeles Clippers are 6-19, sitting 14th in the West, and staring at one of the bleakest futures in the league. Kawhi Leonard is still putting up 25.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.1 assists on 48.6% from the field.
James Harden is at 26.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 8.2 assists on 44.0% from the field. Ivica Zubac is quietly averaging 16.6 points and 11.4 rebounds on 61.5% from the field.
On paper, that is a competitive core. In reality, the Clippers are 6-19 and 14th in the Western Conference, and they do not control their own first-round picks from 2026 through 2029.
Yes, they finally control their first-rounders again in 2030, 2031, and 2032, but the price they paid to get there might push the franchise into its biggest crisis yet.
This is what happens when you go all in for Paul George, double down for James Harden, and the bill finally comes due.
How The Clippers Lost Their Future Picks
Everything starts in the summer of 2019. To put Kawhi Leonard and Paul George together, the Clippers sent the Oklahoma City Thunder a monster package: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, unprotected first-round picks in 2022, 2024, and 2026, plus pick swaps in other years and an additional first via Miami.
At the time, it felt like the price of doing superstar business. Six years later, it looks like the foundation of a dynasty in Oklahoma City and a dead end in Inglewood.
2026: The Unprotected Pick That Could Be No. 1
The headline disaster is the 2026 first-round pick. The Clippers owe that pick to the Thunder, completely unprotected, as the final main piece of the George haul.
Right now, that pick is shaping up to be gold. The Thunder just won a championship, they are 24-1 this season, and they already own the Clippers’ 2026 first.
The Clippers, meanwhile, are sinking. There is a very real chance they end up gifting a top selection, maybe even the first overall pick, to a reigning champion that already looks like a future dynasty.
2027: A Swap That Keeps The Pain Going
The nightmare does not end in 2026. The Thunder also hold the right to swap their 2027 first-round pick, or the Nuggets’ 2027 first if it conveys, with the Clippers’ 2027 first.
That swap started as part of the George package but was reworked in 2023, when the Thunder sent a 2026 first-round pick they controlled to the Philadelphia 76ers to help complete the Harden deal. The end result is simple: if the Clippers are bad again in 2027, the Thunder can flip their own pick and walk away with another premium lottery asset.
So even in the one year where the Clippers technically “own” their first, someone else gets the upside.
2028: The Harden First-Rounder To Philadelphia
Fast forward to November 2023, when the Clippers pushed more chips in to get James Harden. The 76ers sent Harden, P.J. Tucker, and Filip Petrusev to Los Angeles. In return, the 76ers received multiple veterans, seconds, and, crucially, the Clippers’ unprotected 2028 first-round pick, plus an extra 2026 first that came from the Thunder.
That 2028 pick now sits on the Sixers’ balance sheet as one of their best future assets. With the Clippers already slumping and facing an ongoing investigation into alleged salary cap circumvention around Kawhi’s Aspiration deal, every loss makes that 2028 first even more dangerous for them and more valuable for the Sixers.
2029: Another Swap, This Time For The Sixers
The Harden trade also handed the 76ers swap rights on the 2029 first-round pick. The Sixers can swap their own 2029 first with the Clippers’ 2029 first if the Clippers’ selection lands outside the top three. If it is top three, the pick stays in Los Angeles, and the obligation is lifted.
In other words, if the Clippers are mediocre again in 2028-29, they could end up giving the Sixers something like the 6th or 8th pick for free.
Put it all together and the picture is brutal:
- 2026: unprotected first to the Thunder
- 2027: first-round swap in favor of the Thunder
- 2028: unprotected first to the 76ers
- 2029: first-round swap in favor of the 76ers
Multiple outlets have already summarized it in one painful sentence: the Clippers do not truly control their own first-round picks until 2030.
The Clippers Should Rebuild As Soon As Possible
This is the part where a normal team would bottom out and use its own draft picks to get younger. The problem is the Clippers cannot really tank for themselves. If they keep losing with Kawhi, Harden, and this veteran-heavy roster, they mostly help the Thunder and the 76ers.
The only way out is forward. That means a real rebuild, not another half measure.
Kawhi is 34 and still playing like a star. Harden is 36, putting up 26.6 points, and still drawing constant free throws. Zubac is near the top of the league in rebounding and finishing plays inside at over 60% from the field.
Individually, these guys still have real value. Collectively, they are 6-19 and have just dropped their eighth loss in nine games.
Hanging onto this group just to chase the play-in while handing lottery tickets to the Thunder and 76ers is front office malpractice.
The logical path is ugly but necessary.
Move James Harden to a contender that needs on-ball creation and is willing to give up unprotected or lightly protected first-round picks in 2026 or 2027.
Shop John Collins, who still has appeal as a starting-caliber forward, to teams desperate for frontcourt scoring and rebounding in exchange for more picks and a younger flyer or two.
Listen on Kawhi Leonard. That sounds extreme, but if a team is willing to offer multiple future firsts and a blue-chip young player, this is probably the last time you can actually reset the franchise off a Kawhi trade.
The ideal endgame is not “tanking” in the traditional sense, because the Clippers have already lost the right to tank for themselves in 2026 and 2027.
The goal now should be to stockpile as many external first-rounders as possible, especially in those same years, so that while their own picks are being cashed in by the Thunder and 76ers, they are also drafting from someone else’s war chest.
Right now, the Clippers are stuck in the worst place in the NBA: old, expensive, bad, and asset-poor. The picks they already owe cannot be undone, but the next mistake would be doubling down again.
If they are serious about avoiding a lost decade once their stars finally age out or walk away, the rebuild needs to start immediately.
