The Clippers Have Been A Complete Disaster Since The Second They Officially Traded For James Harden

Adam Pantozzi. Getty Images.

Just 13 days ago, the Los Angeles Clippers were 3-1 on the young season. They were keeping pace with the Nuggets/Warriors/Mavs atop the Western Conference. Vibes were high coming off a 118-102 win against the Magic because just the day before the Clippers had finally pulled off the trade for James Harden. On paper, their team now looked stacked if we were playing in 2017, but unfortunately for the Clippers we live in the year 2023. 

James Harden made his Clippers debut on Monday November 6th against the Knicks, a game the Clippers lost 111-97. No big deal right? The Knicks are pretty good at home, they play hard, they have talent, that shit can happen over the course of an 82 game season. 

Well, after dropping a game to the 1-8 Grizzlies at home, the Clippers are now 3-6 on the young season. They've lost every single game James Harden has played in, and the numbers are pretty gross

Record: 0-4

Offense: 106.9 (30th)

Defense: 118.6 (25th)

Net rating: -11.6 (28th)

No matter how you slice it, the Clippers have essentially become one of the worst teams in the entire NBA essentially overnight. From 3-1 to 3-6 in a blink of an eye. What changed? Well Mason Plumlee sprained his MCL, but he's not the root of their issues. It's getting harder and harder to look anywhere other than the addition of James Harden to this mix. Of course, most rational people expected there to be some growing pains, but this? With Kawhi and Paul George healthy? You almost get the sense this is now the vibe in the Clippers locker room

The more you look into it the less sense this trade makes. Before the Harden trade, the Clippers didn't have really any offensive issues. They were the 4th ranked offense to start the season! Shit, they even had the 5th best defense! Their issue was more around their rebounding problem. So to trade some of their defensive wings/bigger players for a guy who does none of those things and also isn't helping their offense is turning out to be a bit of a problem. 

I mean, outside of the Dallas loss, these new look Clippers are struggling to even crack 100. You're not winning shit in the West if you struggle to get to triple digits. Plus, let's not act like other teams around the Clippers aren't getting better. The Rockets are off to an insane start, OKC is continuing to rise, the Wolves might be a top 3 seed, there are no real easy matchups in that conference which is why digging yourself an early hole can be problematic.

Not only that, but we also can't forget that Kawhi, George, Westbrook, and Harden are all on expiring deals. If this is a disaster season as a result of this trade, what's stopping Kawhi or George from turning down their player option and leaving for nothing? Do you know how fucked that would leave the Clippers?

Part of the reason teams continued to invest in the James Harden Experience was because the juice was supposed to be worth the squeeze. But once that stops happening, what's the upside? Listening to Ty Lue, it feels like the Clippers are in this weird limbo spot where Ty Lue is pissed about how they're playing but also is in a little bit of denial in that he feels like more James Harden might be the solution to their problems 

Advertisement

Who knows, maybe they figure their shit out as the season goes on. There's certainly enough talent on that roster, but what if that talent is too washed to recover? Are Westbrook and Harden magically going to turn back the clock? We've seen it time and time again in the NBA, just because you trade for big names and things look unstoppable on paper, that doesn't guarantee shit once you step on the court. You don't win NBA games on paper. 

It sure hasn't taken the Clippers long to learn that lesson, and unless they stop the bleeding immediately, this has the potential to snowball into something that has the Clippers be sellers at the trade deadline. If that happens, all bets are off.