For many years, the rivalry between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Clippers was pretty much one-sided. The Lakers were unarguably the better team between the two franchises and obviously had amazing accolades to support their claim.
However, over the last few years, the balance of power has started to shift towards the Clippers. While the Clippers still haven’t made an NBA Finals appearance, they are utterly dominating the Lakers during the regular season.
This has led many fans to believe that the Clippers have finally surpassed the Lakers in terms of being the better team. Among those fans is also the renowned NBA analyst Stephen A. Smith. Smith threw shade at the LeBron James-led franchise and revealed he believes that the Clippers would utterly destroy the Purple and Gold.
“We need to pump our brakes in this regard… They still ain’t the best team in LA. Kawhi Leonard is coming back. Paul George is there. John Wall is a big-time pickup… And so John Wall, with the Clippers, with Kawhi and Paul George, they’ve beaten the Lakers seven straight times [and], like, 32 of the last 39 times. It ain’t even a damn rivalry! I mean the Clippers are just mopping the streets of LA with the Los Angeles Lakers.”
To be honest, the Clippers have been providing consistently over the last few years that they are the better team than the Lakers.
With the franchise adding a solid point guard in John Wall this season, they are looking scary. The only thing that could slow them down is probably the injuries we saw in the 2021-22 NBA season itself.
