Piece by: Nicholas Cosmai
In the compromised 2020/21 NBA season both the LA Clippers and the Brooklyn Nets will finish towards the top end of both their conferences. Both teams are heading into the postseason with high expectations of championship or bust, but why is the pressure on the LA Clippers that little bit more.
Let’s start way back to when Paul George was with the Indiana Pacers and when Kawhi Leonard was back with the San Antonio Spurs. Remember when PG requested a trade as everyone was leaving that Indiana team that took LeBron’s heat to 7 games in the Eastern Conference Finals? His top destination was to land in LA but to wear the purple and gold, unfortunately with another season on that deal Indiana had all the power and sent him to Oklahoma City.
Everyone who follows the sport would know about the foul where the defender cannot be positioned in the landing spot where the jump shooter lands. This rule was introduced after Kawhi had a season ending injury in a playoff series against the warriors. Why is this important? Because one way or another this was the start of Kawhi’s exit from San Antonio. Another situation where he had a season left on his contract, so he got sent to Toronto. Where it really was a blessing in disguise as the Raptors went on to become champions.
Now for the most part of this no one knew if Kawhi originally wanted to become a Clipper or a Laker as his destination was LA also, but the team was not specified. It is believed from most people that the day LeBron James signed for the Lakers that both PG and Kawhi did not want to play for the lakers.
From there we had PG sign a max with OKC then the season after we had the “Kawhi free agency” where most teams waited for Kawhi to make his decision on who he was playing with before most other moves could be made. The moment that Kawhi was a clipper, 2 minutes later PG was traded to the clippers. Some say the whole 2018/19 season Kawhi had made up his mind that he wanted to be a clipper but wanted to bring someone over with him.
Last season the Clippers went in as favourites for the championship, but that was not to be. There were teammates that were unhappy with Kawhi and PG with their cherry-picking schedule on games and training. Along with this the bubble completely tore them apart, Lou Williams had the magic city incident, Montrezl Harrell left and came back after his grandmother passed away. This downfall was represented after going 3-1 up against Denver in the second round but then losing all three closeout games even when holding 12+ point leads in the 3rd quarter for each of those games.
The irony in all this is that Kawhi and PG went away from the lakers and the lakers ended up being champions.
Yes, we can make the argument that the Nets should have the more pressure based off the better squad on paper and so they should. 2 MVP candidates and a perennial all-star along with a deep supporting cast. For the nets, this squad is in its first season together and for a team with a limited defence and no rim protection it will be concerning to see how they match against Giannis and Joel Embiid. All in all, there should not be many excuses for this nets team, and they should rightfully be in the box seat to be champions, but again this is only on paper.
For the clippers they have re-shuffled the supporting crew a little bit but Kawhi and PG remain. These are the differences that pressures the clippers more than the nets. The clippers need to show a strong response after last season’s postseason collapse and Kawhi and PG both got their wish in Doc Rivers’ departure. On top of this think about the pressure the clippers have in the city of Los Angeles compared to Brooklyn in New York. The Lakers as a whole completely overshadow them, so for the Clippers they have gone all in on this project just to try and get one of their rivals. The Knicks have improved this season, but the nets at least have a good chunk of the spotlight compared to the clippers in LA. Imagine if the Lakers go back to back.
If there is one thing that is guaranteed next season, the nets will keep their big 3 players. The clippers on the other hand might have some convincing to do. This off season Kawhi can exercise his player option year on his contract, so ultimately, he will decide if he stays on for another season. If the clippers have another underachieving season who is to say that he might not look for a new destination?
Both teams head into the playoffs thinking they can and should be champions in a few month’s time. At least one of them will be disappointed with the end result. The nets if they flop will be frowned upon by everyone of course but historically first year for super-team team ups do not usually end in a championship. They can still make some moves and all of their big 3 stays next season. The Clippers have a lot riding on this postseason. They would at least like to keep their dynamic duo as they are moving into a new arena and would desperately love to get some attention for themselves in Los Angeles.