In order to win a championship in the NBA, everything has to fall into place perfectly. If there are hiccups along the way, the championship window could close sooner than anticipated.
Blake Griffin Speaks on Clippers’ Current Outlook
The Los Angeles Clippers are one of the contending teams in the Western Conference. They have been fighting for years to win a title.
However, they are a contending team that is aging.
Clippers legend Blake Griffin recently spoke on the state of the team and their championship window, saying:
“(The Clippers) don’t really have a setup to build for the future. Trading away so many [picks]…everybody’s getting a year older; that window’s sort of shrinking.”
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Griffin emphasized how fast the NBA can change, noting that Paul George has moved to another team and Patrick Beverley is no longer in the league. This is why the team is losing its championship window.
Clippers Are Aging Quickly at Key Positions
Right now, the Clippers have one of the more experienced teams in basketball, but that also means they boast one of the oldest teams. While James Harden is a future Hall of Famer, he is going to be 36 years of age this summer.
Kawhi Leonard is also on the same post-career trajectory, but he will turn 34 years of age next month and has injury woes. Even veteran forward Nicholas Batum is going to be 37 this December.
Although, it is okay to have aging superstars in the NBA. But to combat that, the franchise needs to have young, talented players and draft capital to prepare them for the future.
The Clippers don’t have that, and they especially don’t have the future capital that a team like the Oklahoma City Thunder had to build around an MVP-caliber player like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
While it did take the Thunder years to get back into contention after the days of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, they took the time to seemingly build the right team around their star player.
If the Clippers want to continue to build for the future, they might need to part ways with some of their veteran players and enter something of a miniature rebuild if they want to get closer to a championship.
At this point in time, they don’t even have the firepower with their veterans to keep up with the likes of the Thunder, Timberwolves, and Nuggets in their own conference.