LA Clippers: Digging into the big decisions on the horizon for LA
By Criss Partee
The LA Clippers won’t blow it up
Now the Clippers have some tough decisions to make. For those wanting the Clippers to blow it all up and get rid of Paul George and completely restructure this team after one year, just relax, this isn’t going to be fixed that easily. The Clippers gave up quite a haul in acquiring George and might be hard-pressed to find a team willing to take on his huge contract after the horrid postseason he just finished.
Paul George is still a good player and is still the second star player on the Clippers behind Kawhi Leonard. Clippers management knew of his past playoff struggles when they traded for him, so don’t expect them to give up on him so quickly. It is far more likely that some of the role players on the team will be shuffled out over George.
And contrary to what has been heard, PG-13 is still better than any of those role players currently on the Clippers roster.
One of those role players being named NBA Sixth man of the Year in power forward Montrezl Harrell. Harrell himself had an inconsistent postseason, but for ‘Monsta Trezz’ this lackluster performance comes in a contract year, making it far more damaging than normally would be.
As an unrestricted free agent, Harrell will be looking to cash in his chips after an award winning regular season no doubt, so don’t be surprised if the Clippers decide to pass on paying a premium for the 26-year-old high energy, yet undersized frontcourt monster.
After the issues that came to light between Harrell and George during the playoffs, it should not be a shock to anyone if Harrell is wearing another team’s jersey when the 2021 season rolls around.
Lou Williams is another interesting case for the Clippers with one year remaining on his current three-year extension. Even at age 33, “Sweet Lou” is still a great scoring option off the bench and is a three-time Sixth Man of the Year award winner. Williams may find himself as trade bait for the Clippers in hopes of bringing back younger talent that will be a better potential fit around Kawhi and PG.