Jason Timpf of Hoops Tonight recently voiced what many fans have been wondering aloud: Why are the Los Angeles Clippers, not the Lakers, the team showing more urgency, despite the Lakers possessing the most electrifying duo in the league in Luka Doncic and LeBron James?
“This piece with LeBron here next to Luka might very well be the best roster that you’re ever able to put together alongside Luka Doncic, and yet their eye is on the future.”
“While the Clippers seem more focused on getting the most out of this group, on capitalizing on this era, it’s particularly interesting to me because both teams are second-tier teams.”
“Neither of these teams are on the level of the top teams in the league. They’re just kind of in that next level down where a move could potentially move them into that range, right?”
“And both teams have an obvious retirement drop-off coming, whether it’s James Harden’s potential downfall over the next couple of years, Kawhi Leonard’s knee trouble, or LeBron being 41 years old at the end of next season, they both are in very similar positions. There’s reasoning for both teams to go in either direction.”
“So why are they going in different directions? I think the answer to this is simple. The Clippers trust their basketball philosophy. They know they’ll be able to pivot when the time comes without too much of an issue.”
The Clippers have been active. They offloaded Norman Powell and brought in John Collins on an expiring deal. They scooped up Bradley Beal after a tense buyout from the Phoenix Suns and signed Brook Lopez from the Milwaukee Bucks as a backup center.
Beal still offers scoring punch while Lopez and Collins add frontcourt versatility without long-term salary risk. These are classic “maximize the moment” moves, and they align with a franchise that sees the window closing fast with Kawhi Leonard’s degenerative knees and James Harden inching toward decline.
Now look across town at the Lakers. On paper, they have a superior duo. Luka Doncic is arguably the best offensive engine in the world, and LeBron James, even at 40, is still a top-10 player who finished sixth in MVP voting last season. Yet the Lakers’ front office seems more concerned with the post-LeBron era than with capitalizing on the current one.
Yes, they added Deandre Ayton and Jake LaRavia, solid moves. But they lost Dorian Finney-Smith in free agency, one of their best wing defenders. Worse yet, they’ve held onto their 2031 first-round pick, signaling a desire to keep assets for the future rather than trade them for immediate help.
They are preserving cap space for 2026, with stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic linked. But those are pipe dreams. Meanwhile, their present reality includes LeBron in his final chapter and Luka in his prime.
The Clippers trust their system. They believe in their ability to pivot later. The Lakers, in contrast, seem paralyzed by uncertainty, caught between trying to build for the next era and honoring the final moments of the current one.
The irony is brutal. The Lakers should be the team pushing all their chips in. They have Luka. They have LeBron. But instead, they’re playing the long game, and in doing so, they might waste the most talented duo they’ve had in over a decade.
