The Clippers were a 51-31 team last season, earning home court in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. That said, they were bet from the favorite to the underdog in the series, and despite winning Game 1 in a blowout, bowed out to the eventual Western Conference Champion Mavericks. So is this team really double digit wins worse than it was just a season ago? I say the answer is yes, easily.
Los Angeles Clippers UNDER 41.5 Wins (-130) — 2-units
This was the only NBA play I put out over the summer, getting ahead of a move I was pretty confident would happen. Now you can play the Clippers U39.5 (-135), but I’m good with this number all the way to 37.5 if you want to go with plus money. Nobody is going to fall off as far as the Clips this season.
It was almost a tale of two seasons for the Clippers in 2023-24. Early on both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George were healthy for the most part, and playing on a consistent basis. By early February the Clippers were sitting in the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. They didn’t stay there long, as they just barely finished above .500 over the course of the last 33 games.
Now that team loses its most consistent player in Paul George, and its sixth man in Russell Westbrook. One of the most encouraging parts of last season was that Leonard did play in 68 games, but his knees couldn’t hold up down the stretch, or in the postseason. That problem, as it has done so often with Kawhi, is carrying into this season. Leonard missed the entire preseason with knee inflammation, and has already been ruled out for the season opener against the Suns. That’s not good news for the Clippers in the long run, and Leonard’s availability becomes significantly more important with George no longer on the roster.
Then there’s the decline of James Harden, who’s 16.6 points per game last season is less than half of what he averaged just four years earlier. Harden continues to fall of a cliff, and we’ve seen both his talents decline in recent years as well as his health. The majority of the handicap here is simply that Leonard and Harden are nowhere near the players they once were. And they are also impossible to count on when it comes to their availability. At the first sign of this team not being in playoff contention, either of these players are live to just shut it down.
The Clippers did their best this offseason to fill in the cracks with decent role players. But the NBA is a star’s league. With George gone, the franchise is propped up on Leonard and Harden. I don’t trust either of them.
Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app on Apple or Google!
Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game.
All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests.
The contents contained in this article do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment.
