An honest look at the LA Clippers | The Athletic NBA Show

An honest look at the LA Clippers | The Athletic NBA Show

Welcome to the slam and jam here on the athletic NBA show I’m your host Andrew schle hey go to the athletic.com nbow and you can get the athletic for a discounted rate it’s probably the best best week of the year to get yourself a subscription because we got the NBA

Trade deadline we got the Super Bowl we got so much great coverage at the athletic that you just need to get your subscription and you can get it at a discounted rate when you go to the athletic.com NBA show with me as always is my good friend Alex Spears Alex tell

Me what happened in the NBA this week well Andrew it all started last Friday night with the second 70-point game of the season only five days after Joel em be done it this time it was maverick star Luca donic scoring 73 points on 33 shots in a 148 to 143 win over the

Atlanta Hawks Lucas 73 is the fourth most point scored in NBA history have the NBA offens has gone too far Andrew well I’ll just say this Corey Brewer once scored 51 in a basketball game in 2014 and that is 10 times more unbelievable than Joel embiid or Luca

Donic scoring 70 in 2024 so if you weren’t questioning the league when the freaking drunken dribbler was out here dropping half a hundred a decade ago I don’t think you need to be freaking out about two no doubt Hall of Famers scoring 70 points 2024 love it on Saturday

It was a day of drama first Joel embiid wasn’t on the injury Port prior to the Sixers game against the Nuggets but then 15 minutes before tip it was announced that embiid wouldn’t be playing this set off a firestorm of tweets and commentary about embiid questioning whether he was

Ducking yic in Denver where he has not played since 2019 would this story turn out well for anyone involved stay tuned the next piece of drama on Saturday was just some good oldfashioned basketball Andrew courtesy of two legendss LeBron James and Steph Curry in the game which

The Lakers won in double overtime 145 to 144 LeBron became the oldest player in NBA history to put up a 30-point triple double going for 36 20 and 12 Steph didn’t disappoint either putting up 46 points including nine three-pointers big picture however both of these teams are

Struggling with the Lakers at 500 ninth in the west and the Warriors at 20 and 24 12th in the West on Sunday let’s check in on the Orlando Magic who handed the Phoenix Suns their second consecutive loss after the Suns had rattled off seven wins in a row the

Magic were led by Paulo banero who scored 26 and would be named to his first All-Star game later in the week also making the All-Star reserves from this game was Devon Booker who scored 44 one game after scoring 62 and two games after scoring

46 the magic are 25 and 23 eighth in the East while the suns are 28 26th in the West on Monday we had a couple of juic ones first the Cleveland Cavaliers who truly love to win basketball games they just can’t get enough won their fourth

In a row 12th of their last 13 a huge home win over the Los Angeles Clippers it was Evan Mobley’s first game back after an extended absence but the story continued to be Donovan Mitchell and Jared Allen who put up 20 and 177 against the zubats Clippers Zubat L

Clippers the Cavs have climbed all the way up to the fourth spot they’ve passed Philly they’re only a game back of Milwaukee for the second seed in the East also on Monday it was a matchup between the two top seeds in the west Minnesota and Oklahoma City while it was

A close game throughout in the end it was Minnesota’s defense coming up huge in the closing minutes helping the Wolves Escape OKC with a huge 107 to 101 Victory the win likely means that Chris Finch will be the Western Conference All-Star coach in just a few weeks on

Tuesday we’re back in San Francisco now for another Warriors game this time against the Sixers Joel embiid who had missed the game against Denver and the following game against Portland decided to suit up for this one embiid did not look great he hit only five of his 18 attempts and was moving awkwardly

Throughout the game and unfortunately it would only get worse for embiid after Jonathan Kinga landed on his left knee during a Scramble for a loose ball embiid was in visible pain and later in the week we would learn that embiid had suffered a torn meniscus an injury that

Will likely keep him out for an extended period maybe really it’s a now it’s a maybe okay okay it’s a maybe it’s a little hope the moral of the embiid story this week if a guy says he’s injured maybe just take his word for it and if not at

Least don’t tweet it you know send it to the group chat you can say anything for right uh on Wednesday Damen Lillard returned to Portland for the first time since being traded to the Bucks this summer there were some very nice videos and standing Ovations but

The story of the game was these Blazers who played one of the best games of their season led by Anthony Simons and DeAndre Aton scoot Henderson also had one of his better games scoring 15 points and dishing four assists the Blazers won 119 to 116 while the Bucks

Dropped to 0 and2 in the Doc Rivers era finally on Thursday the All-Star reserves were announced in the East we got Jaylen Brunson Donovan Mitchell Jaylen Brown bam anab bio Julius Randle Tyrese Maxi and Paulo Ben Maxi who made his first All-Star Game scored 51 to celebrate on Thursday night

In a road win over the Jazz and in the west it’ll be Anthony Edwards Steph Curry kawi Leonard Anthony Davis Devin Booker Paul George and Carl Anthony Towns now if you’re a snubs head most agree that the Kings getting zero allst stars is the biggest snub of all other

Popular snubs include Trey young Scotty Barnes Jamal Murray Lowry marinin alrin shenon Brandon Ingram there’s a lot of them Andrew it’s a big year for snubs and also on Thursday we got a trade the Houston Rockets traded Victor Oladipo and three second round picks to Memphis for injured big man Stephen Adams who

They expect to be healthy for the start of next season we are one week from the trade deadline what a week it was Andrew what a week it was indeed Al Hey be before we talk more about International NBA snub day we’re gonna we’re going to

Have our line of the week brought to you by bet MGM Al I wanted to bring this up and just get just pick your brain a little bit on this so I have the top six teams in both the East and the West according to the betting odds at

Betmgm so in the East Celtics bucks Sixers doesn’t seem too out of whack next we have the Knicks heat and Cavs the Cavs are a plus 1400 to win the East the Nicks the Knicks are plus 8800 yeah I mean the Gap is it’s like five games so I I probably wouldn’t be

Getting crazy there but I would I would have the Knicks mirroring where they are in the standings right now third yeah um because they are on such a crazy run I mean they’ve won nine in a row so if they continue playing with this that

Five game gap is going to shrink even if Boston continues playing well yeah and then the Sixers it’s it’s a wild one it’s it’s a stay away 100% it’s definitely stay away plus 750 just because we don’t know what NBA oh oh wait is this is this to win win the

East go to the finals oh okay but not in the regular season playoffs playoffs oh playoffs okay well yeah that’s a different conversation uh yeah I I I couldn’t you couldn’t take Philly right now the heat above the caves I guess yeah I mean that’s that’s

I agree I agree with the noises that you’re making with your nostrils about it it’s hard to doubt the heat you know I don’t know I feel like I’m pretty good at it I know they do this every regular season though like they do they do this

Dumb dance where we all don’t sure but it’s also not like they make it every season they’ve had they’ve had bad years in the playoffs they have they have it’s true it’s I don’t know and and and like I’m I I am not going to bet on them shooting

The way they did last playoffs which was incredible I agree and the this era the the Terry Rosier heat has not been great so far not off to a great start now there’s a team who could they make a trade Andrew by next week another trade

A follow-up trade oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah yeah they want they want to uh in the west the never nuggets plus one you know makes sense Clippers are second at plus 300 I would agree with that as of now and then it gets interesting Suns plus 700 wolves plus 800 Thunder plus

900 and then the Lakers plus 18800 so that’s the top six in the west yeah I mean I I would understand why you would put the Suns above Minnesota and OKC I mean people are going to feel more comfortable putting their hard-earned money on Kevin Durant and Deon Booker than Minnesota or OKC

Yeah so I understand it from that perspective and they’ve o been on a really good stretch recently if they’re healthy they’re going to be an incredibly tough matchup I would love to see them against the Clippers in the playoffs just two teams there’s so much shot making just non-stop shot making

That would be awesome yeah if you give me like a four five matchup Suns Clippers would be unbelievable actually right now it is the 36 Clippers Suns give me that first round that would be that’ be unreal that’d be unreal and that’s why I I mean this is why I

Wouldn’t bet the Suns because they’re going to have an outrageously difficult first round matchup against somebody yeah that’s true and and maybe you maybe you do favor the Suns in that series just because like you don’t know what the Clippers are going to be come playoff time with injuries and then you

Also have like the James Harden you know playoff thing going on so I don’t know I think it’s I think it’s interesting also you know the Wolves and the Thunder have to prove it you know you could could argue that they should be second and third in the West with the way that

They’ve played but also they they both have to go prove it before they can you know be it would be nice to see OKC win uh playoff game let’s start there let’s start there and then I can kind of build up momentum from that yeah uh Al let’s dip back into

International NBA Allstar snub day I want to highlight the Sacramento Kings 27 and 19 fifth in the west they have a great podcast that covers them the de and mo pod go check that out it’s great great they did not get an allar all the teams in the top eight of

The Eastern Conference got an Allstar all the teams the only teams in the West in the top nine that didn’t get an All-Star are the Kings and the Pelicans and you take a look at the Pelicans and they’ve got like Brandon Ingram is probably the one that you’d argue the

Most who has played played in 44 games but he’s like 21 five and five you can say like okay like I get like who would you take off of there like his numbers are not quite as good as Carl Anthony Town’s numbers and so it’s like okay fine Zion Williamson Zion Williamson’s

Actually played 38 games this season only one less than Devin Booker but like the stats really aren’t there with him either with 22 five and four it’s like okay I get it but the Kings you look at the numbers and you’re like what some of the numbers are insane domas sabonis in

The month of January was 2 14- n he is first in total rebounds in the league and he is sixth in total assists this season he’s had an unbelievable year he has more assists than the following players Harden LeBron Lillard Brunson Shay Booker Giannis Maxi Austin Reeves more assists than all

Of those guys he’s had a really really great year so far and Darren Fox too Darren fox has been better you know Darren fox has hit more threes this season than he did already than he did of all of last season in his career he’s already at a career high through a

Career high for for threes made in a season he’s there already and we’re only halfway through the season shout out DUS Mo for that stat I I don’t understand giving so many teams two Allstars the Suns Lakers wolves and Clippers all got two and you can’t give the Kings one and

So and and now it becomes like okay great we’ve established the Kings deserved an All-Star who doesn’t make it and the team I turn to like I to me if you’re gonna get two All Stars you have to your team has to earn it may maybe you disagree with this but

I think your team has to earn it so I just don’t think the Lakers deserve two Allstars well who are you taking off then Andrew who are you taking off I mean I think you take I think Anthony Davis has had an amazing season but just Legacy wise you’re not taking LeBron off

So well Andrew you wanted to pick Anthony Davis for a half season a defensive player of the year last week and now you’re kicking him off the All-Star team you know what speaking out of both sides of my mouth here Al and I am I’m taking them off I’m putting domas sa

Bonis there because I just I I think you need to reward winning and they that happened in the Eastern Conference like every single single team in the top eight got at least one Allstar yeah and in the west it’s these like big Power names that that got you know that that

Became Allstars and I get like I get it I get why I mean you look at Devin Booker and Kevin Durant’s numbers and it’s like can you really say that you can’t you know have th both those guys in the All-Star Game I totally get

It but I think what domas has done like he he’s had an I mean he was an Allstar last year he was all NBA last year like he’s got these accolades that are supposed to like kind of help Propel you to make more All-Star games and like for

Whatever reason it just didn’t happen this year that and it’s the coaches that didn’t vote him in and it’s to to me it’s it’s a little bit crazy because he has had an All-Star type of year and it may all be moot you know here in a couple weeks when guys

Are not going to play in the game and you know guys get called up I’m sure that d loss is going to be one of the first guys called up you know to be in this game but like if you’re like the Wolves probably earned

Two like I know a lot of people would say like towns would be the first one you take off I I actually think the Wolves needed two they’re at the top of the Western Conference they’ve earned it Phoenix like I said like Phoenix has been really good lately great give them

Too the Clippers have been amazing give them two but it’s the lake like the Lakers haven’t earned two Allstars they they have two great great players who have been good they won the inseason tournament very cool but the rest of their season has been strange like the

The thing you think about the Lakers right now is just like emojis don’t they didn’t deserve two allst stars give the Kings an allar this is that to me that was just garbage that they did not get an All-Star uh yeah I mean I I I would

Agree I don’t know if I would have taken off Anthony Davis because I don’t like making it too much about team success I mean I get that you wouldn’t want it like you wouldn’t want to pick uh Kate Cunningham let’s say Kate Cunningham was having a great year but they had their

Exact same record he wouldn’t want a player like that on a team that bad to be in the allstar game but like if OKC had won that game against Minnesota uh last week or this week I guess it was on Monday like they would have been the

Number one seed I wouldn’t have felt like they needed two allars like the West is just absolutely loaded and so if I was going to take some off it would be Carl Anthony town and I I would be put a king there I will say you know dear Fox

He did have a quote that he would love to not go because he just wanted to stay home and do do something else Fox there fox has had like a better shooting season but I don’t know that he’s had like a better overall season yeah yeah yeah I just I just think

Dismissing sabonis is really wrong like it’s it’s for I don’t know what the reason was that he didn’t make it and I’m sure that he was like just there on the edge but but to me I I just I feel it feels weird giving a 500 team to Allstars that’s

All it it does but I I just think that this is the makeup of the Western Conference like once KD got traded from the East to the West yeah you already have LeBron moving from east to west a few years ago yeah there are certain guys in this league that are just going

To be locked into the All-Star no matter what as long as they’re healthy kawai’s that way too and kawhai moved from east to west like you had this huge transition over these last five years of all these all these Superstars moving from the East to the west and so I think

This is just like the inevitable conclusion to that because you go to the Eastern Conference and like you could find some names like if if this was in the East you would probably feel pretty good about saying like oh yeah I could see sabonis making it over Pao or I

Could see sabonis making yeah the East is a totally different conversation the it’s it’s much easier to make the All-Star team in the East it just is the funny thing is they’re definitely going to get to more All Stars probably because ID will be out and Julius Rand

Will be out yeah for sure yeah so someone like a Scotty Barnes or Trey young like yeah Trey Young’s probably gonna make it they’re seven games below 500 but you know that’s the East and like I I get it it’s the West is insane

I get it but I I do think that being top five that’s why that’s why like being top five in the western conference is it’s even harder to do yeah yeah you don’t get an it’s Jamal Murray is legitimately probably never going to make an All-Star

Game it’s going to be so hard for him to do it he’s on The Snug list but I can’t make like as strong of an argument for him yeah he would need like uh Lebron signing somewhere else this summer like that would take away one spot like yeah

You would need like big names moving off of the team because there’s just no spots no and and he he frankly just hasn’t had an All-Star level season that’s just just been like even though he’s been really good and the nuggets have been really good like he’s good

Like he’s a really good player but when you look at all the other guards I mean you can’t argue him over Devin Booker you know no I also think this is a function of the offensive explosion there’s going to be more All-Star worthy candidates nowadays than there would

Have been 10 years ago I mean there used to be some goofy Allstars like guys who would get in as the last guy some of that was because of position to that you had to include you have like Chris and Jamal mcore yeah allar game he made an all he

Did forgot about that until right this moment yeah that was special that was special um well I’m sorry Andrew but I feel like uh if there is going to be a replacement and it’s not sabonis then you can come back on and get really mad

But I I would say don’t so raging mad when whenever it’s like go bear or somebody that that gets it’ll be shenon and you’ll you you’ll be blown smoke out of your ears I will um all right I want to talk about the trade deadline because it’s next Thursday and I’m beginning to

See people worry that this might not be a very explosive trade deadline Andrew you know the updates the updates we’re getting don’t feel like things are moving just this morning Jake fiser put out his latest article and the title was this year’s NBA trade market hindered by

A lack of significant activity not what you want to hear Andrew big names are guys like Zack LaVine Jon Murray where it’s not exactly clear that they are valued Enough by the rest of the league to Warrant an appropriate offer the teams who would be the most likely to

Trade like the Lakers and Warriors they’ve been so underwhelming they’ve fallen so far behind in the west that you wonder if they’ll even bother trading assets from what might be a hopeless second half run you keep hearing how there aren’t a lot of sellers this deadline and so to give our

Listeners a little bit of Hope going into next week I just wanted to review some trade deadline history so the NBA has had a trade deadline since 1947 but can you imagine a a waking up on trade deadline day 1947 just psyched to see what the Providence Steamrollers

Or whatever are gonna do because you’d find out in the in the newspaper you know yeah like two days later probably uh but they’ve only kept official records since 1987 which you can find on nba.com uh looking through those early years it’s kind of amazing to see how

Few trades got done at the deadline because you know you always hear like a certain segment of NBA fans complain that another segment of fans don’t care about the games anymore you know you’ve heard this uh they only care about trades and transactions you know back in

My day fans actually watch the games and like basketball listen I get that the explosion of social media and sports media has influenced the obsession with trades but also looking at some of these deadline deals there was nothing to talk about in the nine Seasons from 1987 in

1995 there were six trade deadlines where only one or two trades were made wow one or two wow andreww can you imagine being Shams back in the 1980s he’d be out of a job nothing to talk about absolutely no slop for all out there imagine being uh uh sham shiria

1987 you’re trying to get people excited about the Cavs trading Ben poette to the Bulls in exchange for a future second round pick the only trade that happened at the deadline That season no one is retweeting that on the internet that didn’t exist 1987 Ben poet Andrew full

Name Benedict J poet AKA Gentle Ben according to basketball reference 27th all time in NBA history for most personal fouls in a season wow yeah that was one the one cool fact I learned about Ben poette uh to put all this into context in those nine Seasons from 1987

1995 there were 37 players traded in total on all those deadline days combined just last season at thead deadline 49 players were traded basically 10% of the league wow and it’s really fun to see how deadline day has changed over time so from 1987 to 2009 that’s 22 Seasons there was only one

Deadline day which was 2005 where at least eight trades were made and on average we got fewer than four trades per deadline day but since 2010 however we haven’t had a single deadline day with fewer than eight trades and in recent years the number just keeps going

Up since 2018 we’ve gotten 12 14 11 16 10 and 12 trades 226 players traded just on Deadline day alone over those six seasons more than half of the league involved in every one of those deadline days we truly live in an age of slop Andrew and so if it feels like the

Insiders have got you down the rumors aren’t hitting as hard the scuttlebutt is lacking juice just know that next Thursday we are getting double digigit trades there is a 50% chance your favorite team will be involved so do not fear the slop is near one more thing

Andrew this is an update uh every summer you and I like to go through and select we draft back and forth five players who we think are going to be uh most likely to be firsttime Allstars yeah because on average since 1997 we’ve gotten six firsttime Allstars per year now this

Year we only got three so far Jaylen Brunson Maxi and Paulo benero yeah now maybe we’ll get one but honestly I don’t know if we’ll get another one like it’ probably have to be Scotty it probably have to be Scotty Scot could and he’d be the

Most yeah I mean I guess if if they did pick Derek white that would be a first time I just wanted to go through our our choices think back get us back in the summer see who we were thinking so uh I’ll just go snake draft back and forth

Starting with you your first pick Jamal Murray yeah just talked about him I went Jaylen Brunson Ching uh next pick for you Paulo Ben Caro number two pick that’s pretty good uh I went Mel Bridges with that which that seemed like a shoe in at the time it really did it seemed

Like a lot Bas on how how he was playing that second half of the Season yeah man really did did not happen wasn’t even really in discussion uh your third pick Andrew Tyrese Maxi yeah so you got two of the three uh I went fron Vagner which

You know I mean I did correctly see that Orlando was going to be better but it was the other teammate uh Desmond Bane didn’t work out didn’t work out too well for you Evan Moy did not work out well for me and then you went Kade Cunningham

We all know what happened there and then Scotty Barnes was my last pick so maybe I can tie it up with you uh looking back though the names that we didn’t mention that probably would have had would have been better selections even though they didn’t make it uh alrin shenon wama I’m

Surprised none of us picked wenyama because like he played like this I know they’re terrible but if they he had played like this the entire season I think that would have been a much realer conversation and then maybe we were just scared to pick him but we didn’t pick

Either of the OKC guys jdb or Chad yeah actually either of those would have seemed insane to say they would have at the time and and they still like like they’re yeah barely snub mentions you know it’s more like OKC is you know like I said they could have been the number

One seed with a winover Minnesota and you would have had to acknowledge like oh maybe they should you would at least have have the conversation we talking about Jon you know yeah uh we didn’t Derek white neither was brought up Dereck white that would have that would

Have been I mean on the most amazing take though if you had said during the summer drafted Derek white fifth I mean Derek white has had an awesome season but like this the SN Celtics is porzingis probably although how many games is porzingis up to um porzingis he’s played 3 games okay

Okay that’s not too bad I mean like that’s enough like I think Booker played 38 or 39 games yeah 35 is plenty yeah he’s not far off from that I mean Derek White’s averaging 15 four and four I mean you gota watch the games watch the games Andrew I know he’s very very

Important to what they do but as you just talked about like the scoring explosion yeah yeah yeah how weak would the East have to be for him to actually be an All-Star like and I and I fully acknowled how important he is and like he’s playing a ton of minutes he’s

Helping them win games on the best team in the league the team that’s like favorite to win at all great but like please like the the only guys that need to be like who’s like the last guard averaging 15 four and four to make an All-Star team maybe it’s his teammate

Drew holiday yeah I was gonna say I mean Drew probably scored more than that but kind of in that mold Drew with the with the Bucks was 195 and seven when when he made the All-Star team last year you know and he couldn’t like he couldn’t make it these

Other Seasons averaging way more points way more assists and I know that like the numbers don’t aren’t the only things that matter but like they actually do matter when you’re talking about All-Star candidates like you can’t I mean it to to me it’s just it’s it’ be

It’d be really strange like if Dereck White made it over like Trey Young Who is I mean he’s having a really really good season I know the Hawks stink but I mean I it would be strange that’s all I would have to say so uh looking looking ahead to

Next season uh any early picks for who’s going to be your number one pick I mean I think Jaylen Williams is like a legitimate candidate to make an All-Star team next year I think that he he’s taking a step up and I think he’ll take another step up next year yeah if

He doesn’t make it this year I think Scotty will be a first and like the first overall Pi has got to be wiim Yama right oh that’s true yeah yeah like that has to be the first overall pick I think Chad’s gonna be another one that has

Yeah because as long as the Spurs are like just normal bad next year yeah if if wem’s still doing the and he’s probably going to be even better like he’ll be he’ll probably feel like a lock although again poor Jamal Murray like if if if web minyama is get

Going to get to the point which I do is going to happen where he’s just a lock every year like again no chance there’s no chance yeah he really doesn’t have a chance um someone that does have a chance to win the whole thing is the Los

Angeles Clippers we’re g to talk about them with LA Murray right after this quick break all right Andrew it is time for the wheel of fandom our weekly segment where we spin a wheel it lands on a team and we become fans of that team for the next week last week the

Wheel landed on one of the hottest teams in the league the Los Angeles Clippers the Clippers went three in one this week including arguably their biggest win of the season a 115 to 96 Beatdown of the Celtics in Boston they also beat Toronto and the Wizards the one blemish was a

118 to 108 loss to the similarly red hot Cleveland Cavaliers the Clippers are now 31- 15 third in the west and only two games back of the number one seed Minnesota Timberwolves per cleaning the glass the Clippers have the second ranked offense and the eighth ranked defense Andrew if our favorite team is

The Clippers who is our guest it’s my favorite Clippers writer law Murray law what’s up man hi Andrew um Alex good to see you guys again good to see you too so perk cleaning the glass Boston had their worst offensive game of the season on Saturday night against the Clippers

Only managing 82 points per 100 possessions for context in their second worst offensive game this season Boston scored 94 points per 100 possessions how in the world were the Clippers able to to shut Boston’s top five offense down mental game that’s all I heard before they went on this trip I wasn’t I

Wasn’t in Toronto in Boston I joined the team in Cleveland so I watched that game from Cleveland and I had the view of being able to just see what they were doing from that perspective and I can just tell you they were so embarrassed um by what the Celtics were able to do

To them in December right before Christmas it was the worst loss of the season for the Clippers it was right after I came to Oklahoma City and the Thunder had just snapped the Clippers nine game win streak so um they were locked into this game you don’t get a

Whole lot of games when you know what kind of team you are there aren’t that many games where you look in the regular season and say this is a measuring stick and the Clippers approached that Celtics game in Boston even though it was the second night of a back toback coming

From Canada they approach that game as if to say we’re going to see what we’re about uh Paul George could have missed that game he W up missing a game uh this week in Washington DC but uh even with a Gro injury he played Kawai played everybody who had been healthy they were

Locked in from the jump and I know a lot of people will say the Celtics just miss shots that’s true but there are reasons that guys miss shots and there are reasons how a game is not decided by a few missed shots rather a 20 I mean

Shoot this Clippers were by like 36 points before time and they were just locked into what they needed to do to take the Celtics out of their comfort zone because when you’re not comfortable what do you do you miss the shots that you normally make and so I think it was

Just a blend of physically being attentive to what they needed to do but mentally locking in so that transpired until the game was not competitive anymore so I want to ask you about kawhai because he’s always been great when he’s on the court but he’s having a particularly strong season this year

He’s putting up highest true shooting percentage of his career highest block block percentage since his Spurs days lowest turnover percentage of his career we all know how great he was with the Spurs and the Raptors but I’m interested in how you would compare this version of

Kawhai to his first three seasons in La like is there anything unique about his game this year that stands out among his Clippers Seasons yeah it’s nice that he doesn’t have to play point guard yeah Harden makes the game a lot easier and as good and efficient as kawhai is as

Much as a ceiling razor and a floor Razer that he is he’s now getting the ball in even more advantageous spots than before and he’s healthy he’s healthy last year he didn’t find the Rhythm until I want to say this time last year you know middle of January and

The year before he missed the entire season he was playing great in ton lose for a season and even that year you know he was playing backto backs but he had some things in the second half of the Year where you know he did miss those 20

Games and then he played amazing in the playoffs and then he tore his JCL so the his first year in La I mean the Clippers got fine because they were not sure what to say about kawai’s health status like you’re not seeing any of that this year

He’s healthy the four games he missed were all at the end of December because of a hit thing that he honestly could have missed more games with probably should have missed more games with he played every single game in January he’s going to play Friday night um the first

Friday of February in Detroit and so it’s a comination of him feeling good him being in the league for more than 10 years and understanding mentally and just just the awareness of the league like he knows exactly where he wins at and he person from a Personnel

Standpoint he plays with Paul George and and James Harden it’s hard to take away Kawhi Leonard and so that that’s the thing that I’m seeing more than anything else it’s just a complete uh a perfect Confluence of his circumstances right now do do you feel like it’s it’s

Sustainable or do you or or like you and like Clippers fans just like all right this has been really cool but we’re just kind of waiting for you know something to happen here is that is is there any of that or is it like no like he he

Seems solid like what’s what’s your perspective on that Ka Lear is a great player so that part’s sustainable everyone knocks on wood around the Clippers coaches staff members about the health part of it but you you know you have to you can’t fear health I think you just have to play basketball and

Ka’s playing like it it’s it’s it’s just nice to have him play and appreciate that and you’re always hoping that he gets through you know a fluk can happen but it’s basketball like if a guy gets hurt you know the end the fourth quarter everyone gets emotional guy gets hurt in

The first quarter of a game what’s the difference you know what I mean like I mean so everyone’s hoping that he just stays on the floor I hope everyone who’s a fan of good basketball hopes that he’s able to stay on the floor but yeah his performance I actually think his

Performance can get better had some games where he just doesn’t have it you know where he’s missing shots where you just were like wow what the heck happened here you know I’ve seen that at least once every two and a half weeks with him uh couple months couple times a

Month at least um he’s averaging a career low free throws and you know what he knows it he knows what contact he’s taking he knows how many times he’s streaking foul to the rest during the game and Ka ain’t gonna say it he’ll say

It to me but he not gonna you know make that point about the the you know how he’s being officiated but we see it it’s funny every time I see someone complain about offense in the league and I’m also like well you know things can get even crazier if they called everything they

Could call so and that is going to you’re going to see in the playoffs in the playoffs I wonder who’s going to get calls and who won’t um the Clippers Stars their free throw attempt rate uh is is is is really low like um and so kawhai could easily be

Averaging another point or two per game just off of that um that part is that’s that part sustainable this is a team that failed and then succeeded not this isn’t a team that you know haded together like from the jump especially after the James Harden trade so that

That that’s the part where it feels like they can be even better and they’ve contined to improve the Clippers have gone six and two while starting center it zubats I love saying that name zubats has been out with a calf strain he’s someone who was rarely Miss games so how the

Clippers managed to be so successful without him have who has like been stepping up in his absence and have you seen tyo trying any weird stuff with him out oh the weird stuff has been in the small lineups Mason Plumley and Daniel Ty have rarely played a complete game

Since Zoo went out and I was already kind of wondering how are the Clippers going to play small lineups they wanted Andrew if you remember last year they tried to lean into that being their identity they had start but they decided to punt the backup center position completely they

Let Isaiah hartenstein walk and and and you know a lot of people tie that to John Wall’s contract but a big part of it is they had nlas Bon Marcus Morris senior and Robert Covington all on the same team and they wanted all those guys to play a you know sizable minutes 25

Minutes game starting one of those guys is not where you’re you know changing basketball you’re changing your how you’re line up with the fact that you’re saying between Nico roko we don’t need a backup five well they learned that in the regular season that’s hard with call and especially Kawai dealing with

Injuries it’s even harder so had they got that’s why Mason p is on the team you saw that you know when Mason got hurt this year that coincided with James’s debut and the small lineups were killing them they were not good that’s why Daniel Ty got signed that’s why

Daniel Ty has coincided with their regular season success this year Zoo being out robs them of you know guys who can play full games and they have actually succeeded in terms of finding those small lineups why because it’s Paul and Kawai playing in those lineups but also if Russell Westbrook is your

Center and I absolutely refer to him as the center in those Norman pal uh who’s in the group you got Norm you have Terren a lot of the times and Russell Russell slide in there and it’s like Russ is guarding centers we saw in the Brooklyn comeback they were down

Double digits they were down 18 in the fourth quarter hosting the Nets in the MAA game and they flipped the switch and it was Russell West regarding Nicholas Claxton uh Amir Coffey has emerged and there you have experimented with Amir being that Center um with James Harden

Kawhai Paul and usually Norman pal um Terence man is experienced at all those lineups um the fact that he’s starting is is a bonus for him because he takes so much pressure off of guys so I mean not to dismiss what Mason plumbley and Danel Ty have had to do playing uh the

Center position in Zoo’s stad but a big part of the Clippers evolution in January has been the fact that they’ve gotten more playoff ready for sure with uh non-traditional lineups so since November 17th the Clippers are 28 and8 which is the best record in the league over that span they have looked

Like one of the best teams in the league for a while now but as we saw against Cleveland they’re not invincible so looking ahead to the playoffs what would you say are the Clippers biggest weaknesses and are there any teams that you’ve already identified as being a

Tough matchup I think any team with legitimate size is going to be difficult especially if that size does not compromise their perimeter talent and that’s the difference between a team like Cleveland and Minnesota teams that they lost to in January versus a team like Brooklyn you know like they have to

Be able to match up with these teams uh they can outshoot anybody but the possession game is important um I hate saying it’s to makeer miss League because it dismisses the other factors of basketball significantly um the Clippers are going to outshoot pretty much every team that they face

Especially with the way that they’re playing and the talent that they have to play with but if they lose the rebound battle things get a little a little tougher if the Clippers are donating possessions turning the ball over at will and they’re not getting those turnovers back on the other end that’s

Going to affect them if you got young guards who can just I don’t care if we give up a point we’re just going to keep pushing the pace get to the paint then the Clippers can be vulnerable and so I think there are people who understand this in the Clippers organization I

Think they would like to see if they can get a little bit bigger because in the west you know you got to deal with at the top of the bracket Minnesota’s huge Denver is huge and they just won the championship and then below that everyone’s going to keep their eye on

The Lakers I mean the Lakers are goofy and dysfunctional but at the same time the Lakers are capable of beating anybody in my estimation so um if you match up with them in the first round series and you know you’re not getting calls because we you know we can

Objectively see how Lakers games have been officiated for two years with Darin ham as the head coach um you are going to you know that that’s going to compromise you um in a seven game series so I think that’s something to watch for over the next week I think that’s

Something that the Clippers are going to try and you know they’re going to look at these teams that are bigger than them as real tests to see how they can beat them and not the bad big they’re they’re big teams that are not good and it’s like their perimeter Talent is so

Overwhelming that they’re not worried about them but the teams that are both big and have enough perimeter Talent those are the teams that the Clippers are going to look at those games a lot more closely than the other games this rest of the regular season we’re a week away from the trade

Deadline the Clippers already made their big move trading for James Harden expecting a quiet deadline and if they did want to make a move what type of player is this team missing who who who would they go after the fact that they made the James Harden trade is you’re right Andrew it’s

Their big move but it also left them bare at a position of weakness right now I thought the power forward position was not a strength of theirs last year but it was deep they had all those guys they had Mars they had Covington they had Batum um the

Weakness came in the fact that they felt like they had to play all those guys and all those guys were in different stages of decline um I thought Nico played the best but also Nico was the oldest Marcus played the most overtime but also probably declined the sharpest as far as

What his you know they beat the hell out of Market he was the guy playing the four he was the guy taking the physical matchup so that Kawaii and Paul could play on the perimeter and save their energy on that end of the floor um and

Then roko was brought in to be you know a defensive playmaker but that didn’t fit how the Clippers were playing uh over especially last year um Roo would have been a great fit for this year’s team and it’s ironic that all three of those guys are nursing various injuries

Right now in Philadelphia so PJ Tucker has been at the end of the bench when he got here he first of all he was starting in Philadelphia um so there’s that when he got here he was a rotation player and he got phased out completely by the end

Of November but teron L thought about starting him instead of starting Terence man because the team believes that PJ is still capable of Performing well when he’s with the best players when he’s with stars so that his offensive limitations don’t matter as much and then defensively he can you can get what

You get out of PJ and again have winning lineups if there’s a team in the league that values that and can take on his contract then I love to see what team that is like I’m skeptical but it’s clear that the Clippers would like to do

Right by PJ it’s clear that PJ would very much like to play somewhere that will play him and then you have to look at the equation of the Clippers really need that power forward just a real option they gave Kobe Brown a shot the 30th pick in this year’s draft and Kobe

Is college experienced he’s mature he’s still a rookie and he showed that time and time again so I don’t think Kobe’s getting a real chance to be in the rotation again this year Amir coffe has been great but air is more of a three than a four um the Clippers should know

That better than anyone else because they tried to bulk Amir up to play the four and it messed Amir up for a whole year um and you know guys like Brandon Boston is like that you know you you need size you have a surplus of wings you you need more you know

Power for it size yes even in a league where people don’t like acknowledging positions so that’s the that is really the area to Target they are set everywhere else but I don’t know how you find that player because as it was told to me Fours Who can play you know score

On three levels on offense and play inside and outside on defense they usually called max players so good luck yeah is the PJ thing just that he just can’t do anything offensively it’s the defense too like the offense is glaring but yeah PJ’s PJ’s going to be 39 in May PJ’s not

Keeping up with perimeter guys on one end and PJ is not rebounding well enough to play the four in in the paint like six5 like PJ would often be giving up and1s and a lot of those and1s came off of offensive rebounds for opponents so that’s the thing if he’s in your second

Unit and you’re you know he’s out there with three all the reserves those are losing lineups so that’s what we saw consistently in November and now it’s just a matter of respect like you’re not rolling out PJ for spot minutes you’re not rolling him out in garbage time um

You’re keeping him healthy you’re keeping him ready you’re keeping him engaged he’s been great in the locker room you know I mean he’s boys with James Harden and Russell Westbrook like you know there is that factor I mean if he’s on the team after the deadline I

Don’t I reported this week like I don’t antici him being interested in a buyout dude has a player option for 11 million next year he’s not giving that up to sit on somebody else’s bench yeah no way sit on the Clippers bench for all that and make your

Decision and figure out what to do after that like guys earn their player options that’s just how this this league works so I I I see all this stuff like what if PJ tur get W out was like well he ain’t getting bought out by this team so

Someone’s gonna have to trade for him and we’ll figure out from there but with PJ it’s like yeah he’s not a starter and he doesn’t help you in second units and other than that keep him healthy and see what you can get in the next week well uh thank you for answering all

Our questions about the clippers but it is now time to play Andrew versus the beat Clippers Edition uh this is our weekly trivia show where Andrew goes head tohe head with an NBA beat writer this week the Challenger is law Murray Clippers beat writer for the athletic

Now law how this works I’ve come up with eight questions about the Clippers uh you’ll give me a number between one and eight it will correspond to a questions some questions are easy some are hard if you get a right you’ll get at least two points if you get it wrong Andrew will

Have a chance to steal for one and we’ll go back and forth till all the questions have been asked and answered so to start us off just give me a number between one and eight two February question number two kawh Leonard currently has 46 dunks on the season what is his career high

For dunks in a single season now before you answer you get to choose who answers first you can make Andrew answer first and then you just have to go higher or lower or you can answer first and Andrew goes higher lower however if Andrew gets it exactly correct he will get a bonus

Point so just a fair warning Andrew I’m gonna give you this my buddy all right Andrew so I let you know he has 46 through half a season as a 32-year-old for the Clippers what do you think his career high is for dunks 80 all right Andrew is set the bar at 80

Law would you like to go higher or lower I’m going higher going higher well the reason I asked this question is because if he continues on his current Pace he’s going to set a career high in dunks because his previous high was only 67 whoa wow that’s weird I mean obviously it was

In San ant I mean yeah yeah yeah pretty interesting wow that is interesting all right Andrew have control of the board springy Kawai uh number one uh question number one the Clippers currently have three players shooting at least 40% from three while taking at least five threes per game

Pretty wild the last time an NBA team accomplished that was during the 2020 21 season when two teams met that criteria name those teams and you get one point per correct answer 2020 2021 2020 2021 2020 2021 um huh and I I did set a personal uh games limit you

Know I didn’t want somebody who just played like five games okay so so these guys played a decent chunk these guys all played a decent chunk of the Season okay um two teams hm three Shooters at least 40% from three while taking at least five threes per game you Utah

Utah no is incorrect uh law you have a chance to steal two points here I’m gonna go with the Clippers the Clippers that is also incorrect damn the correct answers were the Brooklyn Nets Kyrie Joe Harris Kevin Durant who did who did meet my games requirement and the New York

Knicks Julius Randall Reggie Bullock and Alec Burks weird would have never ever gotten there I would have maybe guessed every other team in the league before I got there that’s why I included the Nets because I was like well maybe they’ll get the Nets but they probably won’t get the

Ncks all right law uh you control the board um let’s go with number three all right number three five Clippers five of them Russ PG Harden kawhai and PJ Tucker are in the top 20 for most career playoff games among active players there are two other

Players in the top 20 who are not currently on the clippers but played for them at one point during their careers who are they and you get one point per correct answer okay so this is top 20 in playoff active playoff games yes active players top 20 top 20 and they had to

Have played for the Clippers at one time but not currently okay well we’re obviously G to go Chris Paul here that is correct for one point can you get the other player and if I got if I go Chris I gotta go DeAndre Jordan DeAndre Jordan that

Is that actually sounds correct G say that feels correct that feels correct um we are going to look it up in real time uh because I don’t know that that that sounds good doesn’t it it does do sound good does sound good okay here we go uh we will edit all of this

Out playay in yes we will Andrew you better edit this out stay in staying in I can’t imagine that I would have forgotten that DeAndre Jordan played for the Clippers okay let me I’m going down the list let’s see let’s see oh wow very interesting he is among

Active players he is number 55 in the league 55 in the league wow wow wow wow wow uh a great answer though made me sweat made me look it up all right uh Andrew you have a chance to steal one Point who would that be what what about Robert Covington Robert Covington that is also incorrect Andrew I don’t feel as bad about that one he was 140 on the list yeah I asked this question because the other name is only played for a season with the Clippers I believe Jeff Green Jeff Green

Is in the top 20 you should just I mean that should be the guess for every single team in the league is just Jeff Green all right we have a tie game 1-1 Andrew you have control of the board four four according to cleaning the glass which of

These stats is the only one that the Clippers are not top five in the league okay gonna give you four stats half court offense transition offense halfcourt defense transition defense which of those is the only one they are not top five in the league transition offense Andrew that is incorrect

Law you have a chance to steal it’s got to be the transition defense it’s got to be and it is the transition defense get the point they’re an old team Andrew it’s hard hard to keep up yeah I was it was a coin flip between the transitions um okay law you have control

Of the board and you’re up by one let’s go five let’s go number five number five okay I I love this question my f one of my favorite trivia questions okay among R PG Harden and Kawai which two of that quartet have played the most games against each other in their

Career the most games against each other um just amongst so I got a pair yeah so you could say uh PG and Harden have played the most career games against each other out of that qu you just have to give me a pair right oh man I gotta go with the two

Guys who will play the most in their conference so Westbrook and Harden that is incorrect Andrew you have a chance to steal one point what about Westbrook and Kawai that is correct 43 games played against each other Harden and I was gonna say R was 33 yeah I was gonna say

It’s funny because like Harden and Russ played with each other now that they’ve played with each other on three teams yeah yeah that it’s like okay like those are really the only two that didn’t like really play with each other for any length of time because like Harden and

PG played with each other for two seasons you know that’s it’s a funny it is a funny quartet oh I didn’t give you your point Andrew I’m sorry uh tie game 22 three questions left Andrew where would you like to go next six question number six if he continues

On his current Pace aita zubats will enter the Clippers franchise top 10 list for most career blocks this season wow we are going to name the 10 Clippers who are ahead of him oh my on that list so how this works Andrew will give me a

Name then law will give me a name we’ll go back and forth so this is the current top 10 most career blocks in Clippers franchise history all right Andrew DeAndre great guess number one all right law this is hard as hell man um this is gonna be so hard hard what yes number

Two what I almost feel like you should have saved that one because by the look on Andrew’s face he uh would have never said that name oh no never never never ever um this guy came up in conversation the the other day at the arena what about Chris Cayman oh the

Caveman yes he is number four on the list so you guys have already gotten one two and four now it is laws turn Elon BR Elton BR is number three you’ve gotten all of the top four now it gets a little spicy that was that was definitely

Another one I had um all right Andrew here we go I feel like we got to like really dig for some of these now a lot of names on the list six names what about former number one overall pick the Candyman Michael ol candy is he

On the list Andrew the candy man is number five on the list all right back to law top 10 blocks um trying to think trying to think Blake Griffin just one games alone I just Blake Griffin he is not on the list which means Andrew gets the points the other

Names so glad I did not have one other name left in my Danny Manning Bo Outlaw Charles Smith gar herd and Bob McAdoo I guess we should have had Bob McAdoo the other ones was never going to get there you weren’t going to get gar

Herd I was getting gar herd okay a great name okay law you’re down by two but you have control of the board there’s two questions left you could tie it up right here eight question number eight Harden and Kawai have both played in six game sevens in their career tied for ninth

Among active players which active player has played in the most game sevens with 10 in his career active player who’s played in 10 game sevens um that’s a lot it is a lot I’m just gonna I’m just gonna say LeBron James it’s a great guess he’s played in Eight

But he has not played in 10 Andrew any guesses game seven game seven they gotta be old what about um I don’t know that this is right what about Al Horford the player who has 10 game sevens in his career active is Al Horford that is correct Andrew wow nice

Al Horford for being old uh all right was he in the game seven baby was he yeah yeah yeah we’re going baby yeah um so there’s one okay okay Andrew final question you get first that was his first game seven was it really yep it must have been his rookie

Year yeah they were in those old ugly Hawks jerseys good uh Andrew this is a really tough one I if you get it I’ll be very impressed how many times were all of Russ PG Harden and Kawai all stars in the same season you just have to you just have to

Give me a number you’re just guessing here all right just Harden and kawhai I don’t know I don’t know uh that is incorrect Andrew all right law you can finish this off with a win not in the entire game but on this question so four is incorrect

Um trying to I’m trying to think trying to think let’s go with three then and law finishes it off with another Point week 5 to3 but it is correct it was three times 1516 16117 and 1819 wow only three times doesn’t only three times a whole lot wow yeah there

Were some weird PG years in there you know qu had some injury years so Harden was the one where it’s like straight down until last year that he was an Allstar every single season yeah wow that’s crazy hey go read law Murray on the athletic he’s great you’ll love

Reading his stuff it’s all it’s all awesome he he’s also I mean you’ll I assume that you’re just GNA write a ton of stuff on the trade deadline because you’re always just writing stuff all the time right live blogging it I will get in where I fit in um this team this team

Keeps me busy I’m really happy to cover a team that you know this team’s had high expectations almost every year since kawhai and Paul got together obviously they had the Gap year when Kawai was recovering from surgery so um I’m really happy and blessed to be able

To be in presence and see how this going go so uh we’ll see what we get next week yeah and and shout out to you guys both individually you know I love love doing your show um Andrew like every time I see you is is is is Vibes man um and you

Guys get to be in Oklahoma City to see that Thunder team really emerge so um that’s that’s exciting as well and you know um it’s cool that you guys get to see that through as well yeah thanks a lot appreciate you man all right Andrew that was Clippers week and I’m just

Noticing that they’re still on the wheel of fandom got to take them off get out of there get them out of there right we are down to 20 teams now this is a big week for the wheel of phantom because next week is the trade deadline yeah

Ideally we would get a team that’s going to make a trade otherwise you know won’t be as fun Brooklyn I just feel like they’re Prime for at least a couple juicy trades I feel like Detroit’s gonna do something oh they’re gonna do something they’re gonna do something next week um

So let’s spin the wheel see who we get is the wheel of phantom segment we’re spinning a wheel going to see what team we become fans of for the next week next week it’s going to be wolves the Minnesota Timberwolves wow now probably probably not making uh any

Huge trades but a very good team uh they use a backup point guard they could use a backup point guard okay okay I mean we got John krinski who’s just like the best in the world covering an NBA team so I mean that’s let me see who they’re

Uh they’re playing this week so on Friday tonight play Orlando at home Sunday Houston at home next Tuesday at Chicago and then Thursday night so we have to record on Friday morning Andrew at the Milwaukee Bucks that’s a pretty good one that’s that’s there’s some juice there for the

There’ll be a little time for doc I know the Doc Rivers bucks are 0 and2 but that’ll give them a little time you know to get ready that’ll be a big match up for them yeah they got some time also uh post trade deadline you know what’s going on post trade

Line that’s great that’s great um two Allstars two Allstars on that team Timber wol oh I know yeah well we T talk we talked about that in the first part of this podcast we talked about that um hey Al our listeners can go leave us a festar review on Apple

Podcast and we will read it on the show this one comes from T Dot and then there’s just letters and commas and like just it looks like somebody just smashed their hands on just their keyboard to give themselves a username on Apple podcast so I won’t read that whole thing but

They said the slam and jam Fridays is a great NBA show five stars they say great show love it man thanks so much for that review that was so nice great review it’s a great review uh and if you can leave us a review we will read it on the

Podcast thanks so much for listening to our show enjoy the weekend and the basketball and we will talk to you guys again on next Friday

Slam & Jam on The Athletic NBA Show discuss:

0:00 Intro
10:44 All-Star Snubs
29:42 LA Clippers