After exceeding expectations in the 2018-19 NBA season, the Los Angeles Clippers became more aggressive in upgrading their roster this summer by signing Kawhi Leonard in the 2019 NBA free agency and acquiring Paul George in a blockbuster deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder. With Leonard and George on their roster, the Clippers succeeded in turning themselves from a mediocre team to a legitimate title contender in the deep Western Conference. However, this was not the first time that the Clippers had a star-studded roster.
Not too long ago, the Clippers didn’t just have two but three legitimate NBA superstars on their roster — Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan. Unfortunately, the Lob City era was clear proof that having multiple superstars doesn’t guarantee an NBA championship title. During the time Paul, Griffin, and Jordan played together in Los Angeles, their only greatest achievement was reaching the Western Conference Semifinals.
In a recent interview with Zach Lowe of ESPN on The Lowe Post , J.J. Redick, who was their starting shooting guard during the Lob City era, revealed why the Clippers failed to bring home the Larry O’Brien Trophy to Los Angeles despite having the “Big Three” of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan.
“We’ve all just been like ‘man we really f—– that up,’” Redick said, as quoted by CBS Sports . “We had a chance to win and there were these small little cracks and fractures and we didn’t repair and address them the way we should’ve. I look back and think, ‘how did that team not win one championship?’ We did not do a great job of not being annoyed by each other.”
The “Big Three” of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan had undeniably made the Clippers a fun team to watch, but their years of playing together had been filled with drama and frustrations. J.J. Redick revealed that he had the opportunity to talk to his former Clippers’ teammates and all of them shared the same sentiment as him. Redick said that if they could turn back time, all of them wished they handled things differently during the Lob City era.
“I’ve thought about it a ton what I would’ve done differently both individually and to help the team,” Redick said. “I had a conversation with Doc [Rivers] when we played them last year and cleared the air on some things.”
The Lob City era may have been a huge disappointment, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the Clippers’ team led by Kawhi Leonard and Paul George would suffer the same fate. According to a previous The Inquisitr article, NBA legend Kobe Bryant believes that there’s only one reason why Leonard chose the Clippers over the Lakers in the 2019 NBA free agency and that is to take the challenge of trying to turn the Clippers around and help them win their first NBA championship title.
