What is the future of the LA Clippers’ Big 3? | The Athletic NBA Show

What is the future of the LA Clippers’ Big 3? | The Athletic NBA Show

Uh let’s talk about your clippers you know I saw them the other night um fall to the Lakers and save Darin Ham’s job not really but it it felt that way that night but you know as we know now Darin I think is okay for a little while um

But man law the clips are are humming even with that loss not withstanding um and to go from losing five or six in a row like they did at the beginning of the James Harden era to you know Russell Westbrook going to the bench things starting to click uh and to figure it

Out I’m trying to get the final at this point let’s see they were 8 and 10 now they’re 24 and 13 my basic math says that’s 16 out of 19 um they look good brother what what do you think is is working so well for him right now shoot

You can take it back even further like literally from the time that Russ went to the second unit to make James unit point guard Undisputed to get a guy who doesn’t need Touches at all on Terence man in the starting lineup they are the best team in the NBA record wise 21 and

Six and in that time they have shot above the break from three at a 40% rate which is All Star level shots like we’re not talking about the shots that you know are created for role players or whatever no we’re talking about Kawai Paul George James Harden are you know

They’re pulling up taking the hardest three-pointers that are available and they’re sming them efficiently and that is a credit to just the fact that they are playing together that they have figured it out that they understand that James is going to have his ball scream

And Kawai is going to get into his mid range uh area and Paul’s his isos and those guys are really clicking together on the offensive side of the basketball I think that’s was the biggest issue when James got there uh they tried to have him be off ball they tried to have

Russell Westbrook and James share point guard duties and that was Rocky um it was taken away from from everybody it was less than the sum of the parts right everybody understands what their role is and they can better that’s the that’s the thing about it Sam you saw their one

Of their worst performances and some of that was Logistics some of that was just a travel catching up to them get used to it we’re not going to be comfortable here traveling for pretty much the rest pre All-Star break period of the season but with that said they that before the

Losses were they had take lessons from losing streaks and and and bad losses now they’re taking lessons some of their some of their uh blowout wins and that’s a good place to be real quick before Fred jumps in um because I buried the news they obviously extend kawh Leonard

Uh didn’t necessarily see that happening three years $150 million about the same pay rate that Fred has at the athletic um what do we think about the the stability and security that comes with that because you got the new Arena coming next year you got Kawai who by

The way is never very revealing in media by his standards in that press conference for him to very kind of you know plainly state that he believes that this will lead to James Harden uh and Paul George also uh having new contracts at some point showed you what the

Internal messaging is uh you know is this just kind of all systems go with this particular group is that what that extension signaled here’s the thing Kawai I feel like he’s very direct and forthcoming about what he wants and who he wants to be around and who he wants

To be with when he signed his contract in 2021 which was coming off of an ACL Terror and I wrote this everyone assumed before the ACL he was just going to sign a one so that he could maximize his earnings he signs a three-year deal to match up with Paul George’s three-year

Deal that he extended just before the 2021 season and he explained on media day the only time we saw him that whole year because he was recovering from injuries that he didn’t want people like me about whether or not kawhai was going to come and play or whether he’s going

To opt out of his contract while he wasn’t there he wanted to have that be as less of distraction as possible now you have a situation where kawhai has always taken his free agency into the offseason he’s always opted out he [ __ ] that Trend this time and he was like

Yeah I want to be here and I want my guys to be here and so I’m taking less money we’re getting this done now and if that minimizes things great but as far as him being the best player being the culture Builder if you will it’s a interesting culture but it’s a positive

One uh considering where where this s well as even in the Lob City era and so it surprised me uh I was lit and chewed around watching dude you know get shots up you know um not put my camera down by Kawai because that’s what he likes to do

In in uh the practice facility and then I can’t even get on the freeway until they drop the news so um definitely not expected at in starts of timing but I think everyone expected that kawhai was going to wind up sticking around with this franchise so law I’m asking the natural

Followup to that yo let me get5 for his friend like you Sam say you got [Laughter] money I mean look at that haircut of course he got money hey L do me a few favor as we do this and hit that mute button while Fred’s going if you don’t mind yeah thanks

Brother L you know how you get $150 million you don’t hand it out to people on zooms that’s that’s exactly how I I I got to ask you the natural follow-up question which is so what’s next for Paul George because Kawai as you said hinted it they’re potentially being something next for

Paul George what is next for Paul George and if PG re-ups if and when Harden resigns this summer what’s the future of this team look like if they don’t get to where they want to go because one thing that I feel like we have to concentrate

On that should not be overlooked is that for the past half decade the questions about the Clippers have never ever been about Talent they’ve never been about execution they haven’t been about coaching we can all agree that tyo does a wonderful job there they have been

About are the good players going to play in the games that they need to win and so far this year all those guys are playing Kawai is playing every single night uh all those guys are playing and this team is incredibly good and if they continue to play they can win a title

Why not uh if it goes Ary or if it doesn’t go Ary how does that shake up how they handle their future Beyond those three players I think that’s the biggest question uh that everyone’s going to wind up having as far as the success of this season and going into next season

With Paul though I think I think the deal winds up getting done with Paul George just because he is the guy who came here with kawhai they want to stay together he’s from here too they have almost the exact same priorities except Paul is it’s even more urgent for him

Because like Hawai he doesn’t have a trophy or two in his case he doesn’t have a ring so I think it’s pretty simple for Paul I think complicated is with James because it’s always complicated with James James is here because didn’t sign his deal he sacrificed with Philadelphia he left the

Brooklyn Nets when things in Brooklyn were looking a wire you know as far as the cability of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving both with health and extracurricular activity James can’t be right now they can’t talk NBA Finals will the Clippers be in the NBA Finals we ain’t never seen that before who

Knows what that’s going to look like I know that Paul he has a little bit more of flexibility control of his situation Paul even has a player option James doesn’t even have that so that’s going to be the swing factor I think Paul is not complicated James is and James wants

His money James wants to be an All-Star James he he wants to the team success as well that’s why he’s here he’s making this team click when things didn’t look like it would be like that on this day two months ago I remember this day two

Months ago I was you know I was in Philly watching Team on my computer smacked in Dallas so like they were completely the opposite of what they are now and so everything is about what’s going to happen with James as far as oh what can go wrong or how how drastic can

Things change but that’s the thing it’s like Kawai he’s talked to James too and as of you have not heard James make any waves um and who knows again this is January when the allstar stuff comes out by the end of this month going into February maybe that changes but as of

Right now James has been very F and no real change there until see how this thing ends up in the spring in the playoffs good stuff man I’m I’m dying to see where they go on the court guys cuz they look so good and you do have you

Know I I am I know it’s cliche but I’m a sucker for a little bit of Legacy talk and like you said law kawai’s already checked that box Paul has not James has not um they got a lot on the line and then you add in this incredibly unique

Dynamic with a you know int City rival you know element with the Lakers they’re finally getting out from underneath their Shadow with the new Arena next year you know Steve bomber one of the richest dudes on the planet deciding if you wants to cut this massive check for

All three of these guys uh that context is going to make their playoff run a whole lot of fun to watch and uh and we certainly look forward to you covering it law we are gonna keep it moving I believe and apologies for the yep jump

In What do you got I got just one more thing to watch for umon ton Lou is going to it damn sure better by the clippers but if they a’t by the going to be by somebody he know Noti that Eric spoler got his extension he saw last summer

What M he saw what Greg papovich got you know as his extension he’s praised all those guys he’s expecting Steve Kerr you know one or to get his to get his bag if he wants to be there uh things are so much better for teron Lou as far how he

Feels about who he’s working with and the health of all those guys has put him in a much better place as well he is deserving he has one year left on Deal after this this season uh I don’t know when that gets done I don’t know how it

Gets done go something’s going to get done he’s absolutely looking forward to that as well that’s fantastic so you don’t see that going into next year you think that gets done this summer at the latest I can’t say about when but I knew that t is going to get the bag and it’s

Going to be interesting to see how much right really interesting Trend in the NBA it’s a great Point law coaches are like really getting paid there was and uh our colleague Dave deor I’m going to credit him because he made this point to me when we were talking on the phone a

Few weeks ago NBA salaries have risen like crazy over the past decade with the infusion of money and the rising salary cap and all of that and a lot of front office contracts have risen with that coaching salaries have not risen proportionately with player salaries and so what you end

Up happening is you have coaches who are making like less than the minimum guys in some cases or around what the minimum guys are making in some cases and they’re having to basically act as a boss to a bunch of players and that can be harder but when you have a guy who’s

Now all of a sudden making a ton of money I mean ma Monty’s contract with the Pistons really set the market papovich immediately gets that extension like law said and now now Eric spoler Gets $120 million I mean he’s making almost as much as I am it’s it’s

Uh it’s really changing it’s changing the market that’s takeway I’m just so happy that NBA media salaries have gone up proportionally oh yeah totally totally 100% yeah yeah journalism is not completely and Ed early and shambles everyone’s doing great newspapers are doing amazing all right settle down

Settle down so so we’re um I just think it’s a really interesting Trend I think it’s going to continue to happen I don’t think these contracts I don’t think everyone’s going to get spoler money because Eric spoler is Eric spola but I do think we are going to see coaching

Salaries rise and it’s something that I’ve even thought about with the guy that I covered Tom tiido who is going to be in the same situation as tyo next summer and I’ve wondered if the Knicks are like crap if we’re gonna keep them we really should have extended them

Before all these other contracts came out because now we’re gonna have to pay through the nose aren’t we

The Athletic NBA Show discuss the LA Clippers’ season and their Big 3.