The LA Clippers are currently fighting to secure that second seed and with the records being so close together, they can be matched up with almost anyone. So, let’s rank those opponents by favorability.
As soon as the LA Clippers hit the jackpot in free agency by acquiring the reigning NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, Kawhi Leonard, and trading for Paul George, they instantly found themselves in the contenders’ conversation. While that is still the case, they were never expected to be one of the top teams in the regular season.
Everyone knew they were going to load manage. That was inevitable when your best player played 70 or more games only twice in his career and just last year has been load managing for the playoffs to eventually winning the championship. It does work as shown by Leonard and the Toronto Raptors last year. There are, however, downsides to this.
It was expected to have Leonard missing at least 10 or so games due to load management, but did they expect George and Patrick Beverley to be injured throughout the season? No, of course not and that does mean they are playing fewer games together, thus, having worse overall team chemistry and it may just lead to this.
All of this is a reason the Clippers are not safely secured to being the top two teams in the West. Currently, the Clippers are sitting at third place tied with the Denver Nuggets, and are only one game ahead of the Houston Rockets.
With just around a month and a half left of the season, the LA Clippers are in the mix of a wild, wild race to secure the best possible seed to win the championship and because of this, there are multiple scenarios where the Clippers could be matched with any team aside from the eighth seed.
With that being said, let’s rank their potential playoff opponents from most favorable to least favorable.