The Los Angeles Clippers need to consider tanking the season

Before this week started, things were already going poorly for the Los Angeles Clippers. After a 4-0 start, the Clippers have dropped 11 of their last 13 games, and have the third-worst record in the Western Conference, ahead of only the Sacramento Kings and the Dallas Mavericks. It still seemed like there was plenty of hope for the Clippers to turn things around, but some additional news made that a lot harder — the team learned that Patrick Beverley will be out for the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery on his right knee.

With things going from bad to worse for the Clippers, it’s seems entirely reasonable to ask whether it’s time for them to consider this a lost season, and think more about their draft position than their playoff hopes.

When the Clippers traded Chris Paul to the Rockets in the offseason, the general expectation was that the team might take a step back, but they’d also remain competitive in the West. After all, they still had two All-Stars in Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, and while Beverley is no Chris Paul, he’s a fine player in his own right, with a game defined by tight defense, quietly effective shooting, and a general toughness that can match any player in the league. Plus, there was the signing of Danilo Gallinari, and the presence of elite sixth-man Lou Williams in the Paul trade. It hurts to lose a player like Paul, but it also seemed like the Clippers were well-equipped to compete with him.

So far, though, it’s been one disappointment after another. Gallinari has missed seven games with an injury to his glutes, Milos Teodosic went down with a foot injury after just two games, and Austin Rivers remains one of the least efficient scorers in the NBA. This team was already flailing, and now they’ve lost their most reliable guard in Beverley. With the Clippers at 6-11, and things getting worse, the thought of the Clippers doing something resembling a tank job doesn’t seem out of the question.

Of course, they still have two All-Stars. Over the last month, Blake and DJ haven’t been able to dig the Clips out of the morass they’re currently trapped in, but that doesn’t mean that will remain the case for the entirety of the year. Here’s the thing, though; neither player is doing quite as well as you might think. Griffin’s Box Plus-Minus of +2.3 is well above league average, but it’s also a career-low, including his rookie year, when he played on a 32-win team.

Jordan’s numbers have fallen off a tad too, even if he’s still playing quite well. His shooting percentage is an impressive 64.5, but last year it was 71.4. Likewise, after taking a more assertive role in the offense the past few seasons, his usage rate is just 12.6 percent, the third-lowest of his career. Jordan is still dominant around the basket, but it can’t help but seem like he’s become a bit less effective without CP3’s brilliant passes setting him up for easy dunks. Blake and DJ are still quite good, but it feels like the death of Lob City has hindered their game, and carrying this team to a playoff spot looks like a much tougher task that when thought this summer.

So, will the Clippers tank? Well, if the team recovers from its slump and rallies back to .500, it would be hard to take the wind out of their sails. That being said, what would be better for the Clippers in the long run, fighting for the right to get hammered by the Warriors in the first round, or putting themselves in a position to potentially add a stud like Marvin Bagley or Luka Doncic to their roster? The Clippers never had a chance to compete for anything more than a first-round exit this year, and now it looks like they’ll have to put in a ton of effort to even get that. With that in mind, why not abandon those plans and think about setting themselves up to draft a potential franchise player in what should be a ridiculously loaded draft?

But what would a Clippers tank look like? Well, that depends on how much they care about preserving the Blake-DJ core. If the goal is to keep the two of them together and try to form a Big 3 with a talented rookie, we could look for either player to be “shut down” later in the season. That being said, it’s possible that the Clippers are considering a more serious overhaul. Trading Griffin is unlikely considering the huge investment the franchise just made in him, but a DJ trade wouldn’t be out of the question. Plenty of contenders would kill for a center with his skill set, and if the Clippers are willing to deal him, they could get an impressive haul of young assets to set up a rebuild while keeping Griffin on the team. The Clippers could credibly tank without trading DJ, but it’s still something worth considering, especially when we think about what the return would be.

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For Clippers fans, the thought of throwing away the season is likely a massive bummer. The idea of the team staying relevant in the West despite losing one of the best point guards in the league was something exciting to rally around, and the team’s 4-0 start made that seem entirely possible. Now, though, the team has fallen behind the likes of the Lakers and the Suns, and its point guard depth chart is Austin Rivers followed by a giant question mark. The Clippers have a lot more to gain from tanking than they do from trying to rally their way to the 8-seed, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the front office’s decision making began to reflect that.

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