This season proves Clippers deserve far more criticism than Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers have become the butt of everyone’s joke this season. To be fair, the purple and gold are an easy target after a 3-10 start despite having one of the most expensive payrolls in the entire sport.

The team has been a disaster to watch dating back to last summer’s Russell Westbrook trade and as a big-market team, the Lakers are always going to receive harsh criticism from small-market fans who are sick of seeing the team be successful.

What doesn’t make a lot of sense is any Clippers fans attempting to criticize the Lakers like their team has been much better. Sure, the Clippers have absolutely dominated the regular season head-to-head matchup in recent years, but that is all the team really has had to celebrate.

If anything, with how bad the Lakers have been, this season has proven the fact that the Clippers are the Los Angeles basketball team that deserves immense criticism from the rest of the league, not the Lakers. Shai Gilgeous-Alexader is putting that conversation in the spotlight as he is experiencing a massive breakout season with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

While trading SGA stings, the Clippers had to include someone in the Paul George trade and OKC probably isn’t making that deal without SGA being involved. That is just the tip of the iceberg, though.

The Clippers are in a much worse spot than the Lakers moving forward.

With as much as everyone wants to talk about the future of the Los Angeles Lakers with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, it is interesting that the same conversation about the Clippers. Don’t get me wrong, the future could end up being pretty ugly for the Lakers if they don’t corral this situation quickly. But it is even worse for the Clippers.

Let’s not forget that the Clippers traded five first-round picks to the Thunder for Paul George (along with SGA!). The Clippers do not have an unprotected first-round pick until the 2027 NBA Draft, which is the same time as the Lakers’ next unprotected first-round pick.

The Lakers at least have the benefit of having a championship to show for all the draft picks they traded for Anthony Davis. The Clippers have one Western Conference Finals appearance to show for it. That is it. They have actually won fewer playoff series than the Lakers have in the same timeframe.

And while Clippers fans will tout the duo of Paul George and Kawhi Leonard as the saving grace, the fact of the matter is that Kawhi cannot be relied upon. There is so much criticism thrown at Anthony Davis for him being injury prone. And to be fair, he does have a pretty extensive injury history.

But Kawhi has been even worse! Just like AD, Leonard got hurt in the 2021 playoffs and that is what derailed the Clippers. And since then, Kawhi has played a grand total of two games! Making matters worse is the fact that he is dealing with a degenerative knee issue.

We all know Kawhi hasn’t been the best in communicating how his injuries are doing, either, as the Clippers still reportedly have no idea when he will return. And when he does return it is not like he is suddenly going to be 100%. There is a very, very good chance that the Kawhi Leonard we saw before is gone.

Clippers fans can talk all the smack they want but the current and future status of their team is even worse than the Lakers. Sure, they might put together a better regular season than the purple and gold but does it even matter if they can’t get out of the first round?

5 players the Los Angeles Lakers should have never given up on

The Los Angeles Lakers have let some pretty talented players slip through their fingers simply because they gave up on them at the wrong time.

By the time the team finally moves into that state-of-the-art new arena, there is a pretty good chance that they will be back to mediocrity as the little brothers of Los Angeles. Meanwhile, at the very least, the Lakers will still be the marquee LA destination for big-name free agents.