Los Angeles Clippers

In the wake of their surprising Game 7 loss to the Denver Nuggets in the second-round of the Western Conference playoffs, the Los Angeles Clippers reportedly may be willing to make a splash on the trade market.

According to ESPN's Brian Windhorst, league sources believe the Clippers may have enough pieces to make a trade of significance if they are willing to take on some long-term money.

L.A. entered the season as the co-favorite to win the Western Conference along with the Los Angeles Lakers, but it blew a 3-1 series lead against Denver despite acquiring the superstar duo of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George during the offseason.

As things stand, the Clippers' core is largely in place for next season, as Leonard, George, Lou Williams, Patrick Beverley, Landry Shamet and Ivica Zubac are all under contract.

Montrezl Harrell, Marcus Morris and Reggie Jackson are all set to hit free agency, though, which means L.A. may have some holes to fill.

Harrell would undoubtedly be the biggest loss, as he averaged 18.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game this season en route to being named the NBA Sixth Man of the Year.

If they are unable to re-sign Harrell, the trade market may be L.A.'s best option when it comes to finding a replacement. The issue for the Clippers is they have a lot of money tied up in their star players, as George will make over $35 million next season and Leonard will make over $34 million.

The Clippers will also pay Beverley over $13 million and Williams $8 million, meaning there may not be a ton of wiggle room unless Los Angeles ships some salary out.

One rival executive explained the Clippers' financial situation to Windhorst: "You've heard of the saying, 'In for a dime, in for a dollar'? Well, they're in for 95 cents, in for a dollar."

Even if the Clippers don't make any significant changes to their roster, they will still be considered one of the top contenders in the Western Conference next season, as they went 49-23 this season and finished as the No. 2 seed.

A team led by Leonard is going to go deep in the playoffs and be successful more often than not, and that looked like it was being to be the case this year as well until the Clips shocked the basketball world by blowing a 3-1 series lead to the Nuggets.

The loss to Denver was undoubtedly a step back for a Clippers franchise that seemed poised to finally reach the Western Conference Finals for the first time, but the pieces largely remain in place to make a legitimate run again next season.

Los Angeles Clippers superstar Kawhi Leonard said Tuesday the team must play smarter basketball in the future after blowing a 3-1 series lead to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals.

"That's when it comes to the team chemistry, knowing what we should run to get the ball in spots or just if someone's getting doubled or they're packing the paint...get smarter as a team," Leonard told reporters. "Basketball IQ got to get better."

The Clippers were outscored by a combined 34 points over the final three games of the series to get eliminated from the 2020 NBA playoffs.

L.A. cruised through the regular season with a 49-23 record to finish second in the West. It never appeared dominant in the playoffs, though. The Dallas Mavericks pushed the Clips to six games in the opening round and the Nuggets stormed back to win the series in convincing fashion.

"I think a lot of the issues that we ran into, talent bailed us out," Clippers guard Lou Williams said. "Chemistry it didn't. In this series, it failed us."

Forward Paul George added: "You know, we can only get better the longer we stay together and the more we're around each other. More chemistry for [the] group, the better. I think that's really the tale of the tape of this season. We just didn't have enough time together."

Three of the Clippers' top four scorers in the playoffs weren't on the roster when last offseason began. They added Leonard and George as part of a blockbuster summer and then acquired Marcus Morris from the New York Knicks just before the trade deadline in February.

Building a rapport after such a major overhaul takes time and, as Williams alluded, talent can overshadow problems during the regular season. But that crutch fades away in the postseason, especially in the loaded Western Conference with so many high-end teams.

The chemistry issues that lingered through the regular season finally caught up with the Clippers during the latter stages of the Nuggets series, and to Denver's credit, it took full advantage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdQnQ5jYTEY

Meanwhile, it's back to the drawing board for L.A. It features a couple key unrestricted free agents in Morris and Montrezl Harrell, which will create a frontcourt void that must be filled, but otherwise, the team will return most of its core, led by Leonard and George.

The talent is there for the Clippers to chase down the franchise's first championship. The last three games showed it takes more than raw skill to raise the Larry O'Brien Trophy, though.

For over a full calendar year, since last July's epic free-agency arms race, the NBA's Battle of Los Angeles seemed like a formality.

After the Lakers traded for Anthony Davis to pair with LeBron James, the Clippers landed reigning Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard in free agency and swung an out-of-nowhere blockbuster trade for Paul George, forming an instant superteam. 

All summer long and into the season, debate raged in all corners of the basketball world as to which team was better. The Lakers had James and Davis, but the Clippers were adding two All-NBA talents to the team of overachievers that had unexpectedly pushed the Golden State Warriors to six games in last year's playoffs.

So far in the bubble, the Lakers have held up their end of the bargain, easily winning their first two playoff series to reach the Western Conference Finals. But after blowing a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night in a disheartening Game 7 loss, the Clippers will not be joining them.

Blowing a 3-1 lead in the playoffs is never fun. Ask the Utah Jazz team that the Nuggets overcame in the same fashion in the first round. But for a team that was specifically built to win a title right now, it's particularly devastating.

"We had championship expectations," Clippers guard Lou Williams said after the game. "We had the talent to do it. We didn't have the chemistry to do it."

The Clippers traded away five future first-round picks to pair George with Leonard, but some members of the team apparently didn't feel as though they had to win a championship this season.

"Internally, we've always felt this isn't a championship-or-bust year for us," George said. "We didn't have enough time together."

Another team that didn't have much time to develop chemistry was the Toronto Raptors squad that Leonard left last July. The Raptors acquired him and Danny Green the previous summer and added starting center Marc Gasol at the trade deadline on their way to winning a title. 

The Lakers team these Clippers were supposed to face in the Western Conference Finals traded almost half of its rotation for Davis last summer and filled in the gaps with veterans on cheap deals. They didn't have years to develop continuity, either. They've also won each of their first two series in the bubble in five games.

George himself had previously said those expectations were there. During an interview back in June with comedian Kevin Hart, he said: "Immediately, we were expected to come in and win it all."

So, which is it?

The answer is a little of both.

Yes, the Clippers mortgaged their future to bring in two superstars who can become free agents following the 2020-21 season. Any outcome other than winning the title, or at least making the Finals, is a disappointment. Not even making the conference finals is a disaster, especially when they led by double digits in three straight elimination games.

But everyone picking them to win this year's title perhaps should have taken their lack of continuity into account.

George missed the first 11 games of the season recovering from shoulder surgery and an additional nine games in January with a hamstring issue. Leonard didn't play on back-to-backs all year as part of his extended load-management plan. A key member of their supporting cast, Marcus Morris Sr., came over at the trade deadline, just a month before the COVID-19 shutdown in March.

That stuff matters, especially against a Denver team that's deep, well-coached and knows who they are. Even if they had survived Game 7 against Denver, it likely would have mattered against a Lakers team with a locked-in James and role players who have been clicking throughout the playoffs.

The Clippers thought they could coast on pure talent, which on paper they have more of than any other team in the NBA. But they got complacent all too often and let their opponents hang around.

They could get away with it against the Dallas Mavericks in the first round. The Nuggets were a different story.

After Tuesday's loss, Clippers head coach Doc Rivers said he felt players missing time during the season restart hurt their conditioning. The Clippers' instances in this regard—including Williams' infamous trip to Magic City—were more high-profile, but a number of teams in the bubble dealt with that problem on some level.

The Nuggets were so shorthanded at the start of training camp at Disney World that they couldn't even conduct five-on-five scrimmages. Nikola Jokic tested positive for COVID-19 in Serbia and was late to arrive. Several other players were late to arrive from Denver after positive tests as well. Guard Gary Harris missed all eight seeding games and most of the first round with a hip injury. They're still without forward Will Barton, who left the bubble to rehab an ongoing knee injury.

It didn't matter. The Nuggets still found a way to get to where they needed to get. And they didn't have the title expectations the Clippers did.

When Clippers players talk about the hardships of the bubble that have affected every team, it sounds like a lot of excuses from a team that should have been better.

Sean Highkin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon and lives in Portland. His work has been honored by the Pro Basketball Writers' Association. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram and in the B/R App.

Los Angeles Clippers star Paul George attempted to correct the record Tuesday after the Denver Nuggets eliminated his team from the postseason in the Western Conference Semifinals.

The Clippers wanted the NBA title pressure, George said, but L.A. never felt it was "championship or bust."

Paul George says that while the Clippers wanted the pressure of the title expectations, they also just could never find the chemistry. He adds "internally" the Clippers never felt it was "championship or bust" this season. They feel they got more contending ahead.

— Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) September 16, 2020

Los Angeles blew a 3-1 series lead to the Denver Nuggets culminating in a rather embarrassing 104-89 loss in Game 7.

George shot just 4-of-16 from the field for 10 points, while forward Kawhi Leonard struggled with 14 points on 22 shots.

The duo who teamed up to win a title with the Clippers fell way short in their first year. George said there wasn't as much chemistry up and down the roster as the club hoped for, and they struggled to stay in a rhythm this season because of it.

Just how the team goes about correcting that this offseason will tell a lot about the Clippers' path forward.

Head coach Doc Rivers has a few seasons left on his current contract and a number of key rotation players—including reigning Sixth Man of the Year Montrezl Harrell and Marcus Morris Sr.—are due for new contracts. With George and Leonard both free agents in 2022, L.A. doesn't have many options or a long window to make them.

Instead, change will need to come swiftly with little margin for error.

Yet Leonard spent the season preaching the opposite.

"We just can't be in a rush," Leonard told Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN earlier this season. "That's what I'm [telling them]. Just be patient. It's hard to win a championship. The pressure isn't even on us now. Just enjoy the process and have fun."

That might have been the case back in January, but Tuesday night wasn't much fun for L.A. fans, and the pressure is most certainly on now.

This wasn't supposed to happen to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Not losing in the second round to the Denver Nuggets. Not blowing a 3-1 lead. And not before they had a chance to face the Los Angeles Lakers in a highly anticipated showdown in the playoffs.

Instead, they lost Tuesday's Game 7 to Denver 104-89, which left them quite angry.

"We're pissed off," Lou Williams said, per Marc J. Spears of ESPN's The Undefeated. "Simple and plain, we're pissed off."

He also pointed to a lack of chemistry, adding, "We had championship expectations. We had the talent to do it. We didn’t have the chemistry to do it."

Chemistry is one of those things in sports that is difficult to define but unquestionably contributes to winning.

It often comes with playing together for significant time, and the Clippers added two stars in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George this offseason just to see a number of players go in and out of the lineup with injury concerns.

That the season was interrupted and then moved to Walt Disney World Resort because of the COVID-19 pandemic surely didn't do wonders for L.A.'s ability to establish continuity and familiarity with each other, either.

Still, chemistry doesn't exactly help the ball go in the hoop, and Leonard (6-of-22) and George (4-of-16) were both abysmal from the field with the season on the line Tuesday.

Fatigue may have also been an issue, as Spears shared:

Several Clippers were so fatigued during Game 7 against Denver that they struggled to play stints longer than three minutes and asked out of the game for a breather in the fourth quarter, sources told @TheUndefeated.

— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) September 16, 2020

"I was never comfortable," head coach Doc Rivers said, per Spears. "Never was. Conditioning-wise we had guys who couldn't play minutes."

Call it a lack of chemistry, call it fatigue problems or call it a poor shooting night, but it was a complete collapse for a Clippers team that had championship expectations. It's no wonder Williams was so upset after the loss.

The Los Angeles Clippers were supposed to challenge for the title from the start of the season.

Or at least face the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.

Instead, they blew a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets in the second round, and head coach Doc Rivers partially blamed conditioning after Tuesday's 104-89 loss in Game 7.

"I was never comfortable," Rivers said, per Marc J. Spears of ESPN's The Undefeated. "Never was. Conditioning-wise we had guys who couldn't play minutes."

Spears added more details:

Several Clippers were so fatigued during Game 7 against Denver that they struggled to play stints longer than three minutes and asked out of the game for a breather in the fourth quarter, sources told @TheUndefeated.

— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) September 16, 2020

To be fair, the Clippers dealt with injuries and attrition throughout the season. Patrick Beverley played just one game in the first round of the playoffs, while Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and others missed some time during the season.

It surely impacted the team's ability to develop a rhythm together, and then the COVID-19 pandemic uprooted the entire season and moved it to Walt Disney World Resort following a long break.

The continuity was not there, but this team is also loaded with talent. In fact, the argument can be made it is the most talented in the league and should not be blowing 3-1 leads to anyone.

Leonard (6-of-22) and George (4-of-16) never found their shots from the field, and the Clippers had no answers for the dynamic duo of Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic. Murray scored 25 points in the first half alone on his way to 40, while Jokic absolutely stuffed the stat sheet with 16 points, 22 rebounds, 13 assists, three blocks and two steals.

It was an incredible performance from a center who will be tasked with playing at the top of his game against Anthony Davis and the Lakers in the next round.

Still, the story was the Clippers' collapse and the stunningly poor performance from their two stars with the season on the line. The team as a whole scored 33 points in the second half, turning a halftime lead into a blowout loss.

Perhaps it was a result of poor conditioning, but L.A.'s failure to make it past even the second round is one of the biggest shocks of the entire NBA season.

The Los Angeles Clippers have not only blown a 3-1 series lead against the Denver Nuggets, they've also blown two big leads in each of their past two games. 

And Clippers head coach Doc Rivers is sensing a pattern.

"There's no secret like potion that something happened. The two things that we didn't do, clearly defensively, they shot almost 60 percent in the second half," he told reporters Monday. "The one thing that did stand out, they went to the free-throw line like on every play."

Los Angeles blew a 16-point lead in Game 5 and a 19-point lead in Game 6. The Nuggets changed their strategy in the second half of Game 6, attacking the basket more aggressively, which led to 19 second-half free-throw attempts. 

Key perimeter defenders Clippers like Paul George and Patrick Beverley have gotten in foul trouble, which Rivers said they need to avoid:

"PG can't get in foul trouble. I think he's been in foul trouble at least two, maybe three of the games, and at times he's not even guarding one of your key guys. We've just got to keep him on the floor.

"The foul trouble by our guards, they have been very hurtful in this series, and not just the last two games. We've got to keep our guards on the floor, because if we don't, we've got to go to lineups defensively that are not desirable."

The Clippers haven't allowed Jamal Murray any of the 40- or 50-point games he mustered against the Utah Jazz in the opening round, holding him to 19.7 points per game in the series. They've had less success containing center Nikola Jokic, who is averaging 25.8 points, 12.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists in the six games. His 34-point, 14-rebound, seven-assist effort in Game 6 is a huge reason the Nuggets are still alive. 

The Clippers have a secret weapon of their own in Kawhi Leonard, who is no stranger to Game 7s. Last year, he ended the Philadelphia 76ers' season with a miracle shot at the buzzer before leading Toronto to the title. 

"Just got to leave it all out on the floor and make sure we are paying attention to detail and executing and communicating on the defensive end," Leonard said his message to the team would be about playing in a Game 7. "And that's all we can do, go out there and play hard and just make sure we know the game plan."

The Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers assistant coach Sam Cassell have "mutual interest" regarding Houston's vacant head coaching position, according to ESPN's Tim MacMahon.

The position opened up Sunday after former head coach Mike D'Antoni—who was no longer under contract after Saturday's Game 5 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, ending the Rockets season—announced he would not be returning to the team. 

Mike and Laurel D’Antoni statement to ESPN on departure from Rockets pic.twitter.com/XypyT8bgC0

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 13, 2020

"Sam Cassell should be a head coach, period," Clippers head coach Doc Rivers said this week, per MacMahon. "He's got an incredibly high basketball IQ, and I just hope he gets a shot. ... When they talk about paying dues, he's paid every due that is possible and he's yet to get a job. So, I'm hoping that happens."

I'd love this for Houston. Sam Cassell is deserving of an opportunity to be a head coach after so many years as a successful and well-liked assistant coach who's helped young players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander get better. https://t.co/HUtvdoup0g

— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) September 13, 2020

https://twitter.com/highkin/status/1304202342279991297

Cassell, 50, spent 15 seasons in the NBA with the Rockets, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, New Jersey Nets, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers and Boston Celtics, averaging 15.7 points and six assists per game. He was a three-time NBA champion, a 2003-04 All-NBA second team selection and a one-time All Star. 

Since retiring, he's served as an assistant coach for the Washington Wizards (2009-10 to 2013-14) and the Clippers (2014-15 to present). 

He may not be the only Clippers assistant to be a candidate for Houston's vacancy. Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweeted Sunday to "expect the franchise to take a strong look" at former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach and current Clippers assistant Tyronn Lue as well. 

Whoever takes the gig will take over an interesting, small-ball roster optimized for D'Antoni's pace and space offense. With James Harden and Russell Westbrook headlining that group, however, it is an enticing opportunity for prospective head coaches. 

Lou Williams has heard all the jokes about his strip-club sojourn that nearly cost him his place in the NBA bubble.

Now he's ready to profit off the mistake.

The Los Angeles Clippers guard posted an Instagram story Thursday, saying he has trademarked the "Lemon Pepper Lou" nickname.

Lou Will trademarked “Lemon Pepper Lou" pic.twitter.com/3ZcayeGTVl

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) September 10, 2020

"Y'all make jokes and t shirts, but it's gonna cost ya lol," Williams wrote on his Instagram.

Williams was forced to quarantine at the NBA bubble for 10 days after being photographed with rapper Jack Harlow at Atlanta's Magic City strip club in July, a violation of the league's strict protocols amid COVID-19. 

The jokes flew instantly and intensified after Williams said he went to the club to pick up wings, rather than enjoy some adult entertainment. To be fair to Lou Will, he's such a frequent customer at Magic City that he's got a wing flavor named after him—the Louwill Lemon Pepper BBQ. 

Hence the nickname "Lemon Pepper Lou." 

Perhaps this venture will allow Williams to make back some of the salary he lost by being forced to sit out two seeding games as a result of the incident. 

In his first year playing under head coach Doc Rivers, Kawhi Leonard has posted career highs in points per game (27.1), assists per game (4.9), and free throw percentage (88.6 percent).

During media availability Thursday, Rivers pinpointed how Leonard has been able to pull it off: his "surgical" style of play. 

Doc Rivers on Kawhi Leonard. (Vid: @kylegoon) https://t.co/TKi702KqfJ pic.twitter.com/enGSKh26Ng

— Mirjam Swanson (@MirjamSwanson) September 10, 2020

"It's rare that you find a guy that just knows his game and knows what he needs to work on," Rivers added. "It's awesome some nights when you see him shooting. I think you can tell he's way over his number, but in his mind he's not to the comfort level that he needs to be in. When you watch guys through their career shoot and they're having a tough night and they stop, he's not going to. It just tells you about who he is."

Leonard, who signed a three-year, $103 million deal with the Clippers last summer, is on the verge of leading the franchise to its first-ever conference finals appearance. They hold a 3-1 lead in their current series against Denver, with the chance to end it on Friday.

While the two-time NBA champion is inching closer to an opportunity to win a third, he's also making a serious case for another honor: bubble MVP. In Game 4 with Denver, the 29-year-old put up 30 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists, bringing his average since the restart to 29.1 points per game, 7.9 rebounds, and 5.2 assists.