The Clippers' new secret to aim for a shot at the Championship

Ever since Kawhi Leonard and Paul George teamed up on the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2019/20 season, they have held themselves to championship aspirations. For a plethora of reasons, things have turned out disappointing thus far. However, with less than a week to go until the new season begins, the Clippers finally believe they are ready to win.
Injuries

The new Clippers pairing seemed destined to break the Clippers' playoff curse when they moved to Los Angeles four seasons ago. Leonard had just come off a historic playoff run, winning Finals MVP and leading the Toronto Raptors to their first-ever NBA Championship. As for George, he had just completed his best-ever season, finishing third in MVP voting for the Thunder, with averages of 28 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 4.1 assists.

On paper, the two of them looked like potentially the best duo in the entire NBA. However, both stars ended up being injury-prone for their run with the Clippers. In their four years with the team, neither player has managed to play more than 57 games in a season, with Kawhi even missing the entire 2021/22 season. Despite this, the Clippers, led by their supporting cast, have remained a perennial winning team. They have finished every season with more wins than losses since 2011, which was years before either player joined the franchise.

The #Clippers clinched the 8th seed despite missing key players due to injury. 🏀

GAMES MISSED:

Kawhi Leonard (79)
Paul George (50)
Marcus Morris (27)
Norman Powell (22)
Nicolas Batum (22) pic.twitter.com/ugfpSXE1Q2— Fadeaway World (@FadeawayWorld) April 6, 2022

The Clippers have shown glimpses of promise, with the most notable being the 2021 playoffs, where they made the conference finals for the first time in franchise history. Kawhi was missing from this matchup, and they ultimately fell to Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns in a thrilling six-game series. Many believe that had Kawhi been healthy, they would have defeated the Suns, and some even believe they would have gone on to beat the Bucks in the NBA finals, claiming their first-ever championship.


Clippers New Approach

With the preseason underway, the Clippers have shared that Leonard and George are completely healthy and fit ahead of next week's season opener. In fact, the duo is allegedly so healthy that Ty Lue and the coaching staff have elected not to play cautiously with the two stars this season.

In previous years, both stars have been used sparingly throughout the regular season and tried to be kept healthy and rested in time for the playoffs. Due to beliefs that this approach has affected on-court chemistry, the coaching staff has decided to emphasize on-court training over time spent in the training room. One reason for this change may be the new NBA policy on resting stars set to be implemented this season, but the Clippers tend to be on board with this new approach. George claims that they need to "practice more." Ty Lue has praised the leadership of both Paul and Kawhi for setting the tone in training.


Trade Rumours

While the possibilities of a healthy Leonard and George are currently unknown, the Clippers' front office has kept an eye on the rest of the league and has been active in improving the roster around their star players.

Last season, they traded for George's former teammate, Russell Westbrook, who proved to be a great addition when he took charge in leading the Clippers in last year's playoffs, averaging 23.6 points, 7.9 assists, and 7.2 rebounds. They managed to re-sign Westbrook for a shockingly low salary of $7.8 million over 2 years for the future Hall of Famer.

In addition to this, they are still active in trade discussions as of right now. They have noticed the additions of Bradley Beal in Phoenix and Kyrie Irving in Dallas and have decided to try and improve their roster even further with offers for former MVP James Harden. They are currently the odds-on favorite to acquire Harden, and reports have emerged of an offer the Clippers have sent to Philadelphia.

While we're unsure if they will be able to make this trade happen, it does look promising for Clippers fans that they seem to be going all in to try and win a championship with their healthy stars this season.


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sportsnaut