Will The LA Clippers Ever Contend?

After years of falling short, we question whether this LA Clippers core will ever contend for an NBA Championship

The LA Clippers are one of those teams that show us how good they can be during the regular season, but then come playoffs, they struggle more.

Since the 2011-12 season, the Clippers have won three out of eight playoffs series that they’ve participated in. In that same 2011-12 season, they were swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the Conference Semi-Finals. Granted, it was their first time to get to the playoffs since the 2005-06 season, so they had some things to work out.

It wasn’t long after drafting Blake Griffin that they consistently made it into the playoffs. In the 2010-11 season, Blake won Rookie of the Year and the next year they went to the second round. Since that season, they’ve never made it past the second round.

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They clearly have what it takes to get to the playoffs, but why have they yet to make it to the Conference Finals? The easy answer would be because of the Spurs, Warriors, and even the Thunder. Those are the three teams they lost to in the second round and there’s no denying that all three of those teams were good… great even.

This leads us to the Big 3 on the team: Blake, DJ, and CP3. They’ve been the center of this team for the last six seasons. We all know they work well together and can put up the points the team needs. But when they aren’t on the court, that’s where this team has really struggled.

We saw Blake go out with a broken hand and the team was still able to win games. That alone could justify trading away either Blake or DJ. CP3 could probably be replaced with a young point guard, but they don’t appear quite as reliable.

What would the Clippers gain from trading away Blake or DJ? The team can strengthen their bench and receive a decent replacement starter. All three players are making over $20 million a season. There’s a huge drop off with a lot of their key role players. J.J. Redick pulls in around $7 million this season, and for some reason Austin Rivers makes more than him.

Trading away Blake or DJ could open up the team to 2 or 3 solid players, especially if they’re willing to take a pay rate similar to Redick to try to go for the championship.

In other words, the LA Clippers might not have the support they need to win a championship unless they trade away one of the big three. Not to mention, they have early termination options on both CP3 and Blake for next season.

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I suggest that the team finishes out this season with their current roster and reevaluate during the offseason whether they think it would be beneficial to build up their bench support. It could help them in the long run, too. Doc the GM has a lot to figure it out and I’m interested in seeing how this plays out.