This offseason, James Harden perfected his signature transfer.
First, he pump-faked the basketball world (by accepting his player-option), stepped again (from the Sixers and then dogged his longtime affiliate Daryl Morey in China), then he requested officers bail him out by forcing his solution to the Clippers (as an alternative of the charity stripe). The Beard attending to L.A. felt as inevitable as him manipulating the refs and the rule guide at his peak. Like watching him throw himself into defenders, Harden getting his approach left everybody feeling queasy.
The excellent news is that the Clippers acquired their level guard. The Clippers are now a unstable amalgamation of enigmatic superstars. Chemistry be damned, Tyronn Lue should coach and function expertise supervisor. Wings Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are the seasoned variations of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. If the Lakers are the mercenary group who attracts universally revered iconic stars, the Clippers should be the NBA’s biggest foils. Nobody will really feel good watching the Clippers hoist a Larry O’Brien Trophy besides Clipper Darrell. Even a majority of Los Angelians would reasonably root for the Lakers.
Ironically, their stars are prodigal sons who started their careers as plucky underdogs. Palmdale’s George and Riverside’s Leonard weren’t provided scholarships from UCLA, so that they wound up at Fresno State and San Diego State, respectively. But Leonard squashed all his good will by forcing his approach out of San Antonio and has grow to be the metonym for load administration since. He’s additionally a former two-time Defensive Player of the 12 months. For two years, they’ve been too injured to star in the one-box.
Long Beach native Russell Westbrook and Lakewood’s Harden are the new additions. Both will be their very own workforce’s personal worst enemy. Off the court docket, no person has ever had a nasty factor to say about Westbrook’s management. But in the thick of it, he’s a stay wire close to a crowded pool.
Los Angeles’ homecoming workforce spent 4 years buying a primetime solid of self-made locals as they open their $2 billion Inglewood area in 2024. For higher or worse, Clipper Nation acquired what they wished with scintillating expertise on the flooring and a temperamental star off of it. Harden has syndicated his drama throughout 4 organizations. How he meshes with Westbrook for the third time will probably be a captivating growth to witness. Harden reportedly pushed for the Rockets to commerce Westbrook the final time they linked up and a month later the group appeased him, accelerating their very own demise in the course of.
The scrutiny on the pair will probably be much more intense now that Westbrook should play extra off-ball whereas Harden is on the flooring, whereas watching his utilization shrink. This time, they’ll have to include George and Harden into the offense.
At the nexus of all this will probably be George’s impending free company if he decides to opt-out and earn one final max contract pay day, and Harden’s expiring contract. Harden is taking part in for one final $200 million payday of his personal. On one hand, that ought to be motivation sufficient for him to do every thing in his energy to make this work. On the different, we haven’t seen Harden on a court docket since going 3-for-11 from the area in Game 7 towards Boston.
The Clippers managed to maintain Terance Mann and Norm Powell, and whereas there’s a plethora of overlapping expertise, they’ve raised their ceiling with the Harden acquisition so long as they continue to be wholesome. Leonard and George’s our bodies have a tendency to interrupt down as the postseason approaches.
The final time Harden was on a paper dragon of this nature, a Harden hamstring harm and Kyrie Irving’s cantankerous persona helped these Nets sabotage themselves internally. That workforce assembled too many oddball personalities, however in addition they had the firepower to win all of it.
The Clippers have one-upped them on each fronts.
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