The LA Clippers are stunningly rudderless this season.

As the oldest team in the NBA, the Los Angeles Clippers should be benefitting from the long breaks between games during the NBA Cup semifinals. The Clippers played only one game in the last eight games, their loss against the Rockets on Thursday. This has given them an opportunity to practice and get healthy.

Those 2026 and 2027 first-rounders are more valuable to L.A. than anyone else. That includes Oklahoma City. This buys the Clippers absolute freedom for the rest of this year (and next year) to hit reset and build a more sustainable core that's not beholden to age, injuries and placeholder timelines.

The Rockets left the door open for the Clippers with 8.7 seconds left when 88.9 percent free-throw shooter Aaron Holiday split a pair from the line, giving Houston a 114-111 lead. The Clippers were out of timeouts, as coach Tyronn Lue burned a challenge on a Kawhi Leonard offensive foul drawn by Holiday on the previous possession.

The Los Angeles Clippers are in turmoil. It’s time for them to admit defeat and make a fresh start. From Kawhi Leonard’s salary cap scandal to Chris Paul’s controversial exit, the Clippers have made headlines for all the wrong reasons lately.

Barring a series of unexpected wins in the next two weeks, the Clippers' season will be over before 2026, forcing Steve Ballmer and Lawrence Frank to make uncomfortable decisions. Whether they keep the future of the franchise in mind when making these decisions remains to be seen.

With a talented roster and All-Star weekend in their home arena, the LA Clippers were poised to have a great 2025-26 season. What happened?

The Clippers are a mess. This is typically an evergreen statement. There have been moments and stretches where things have gone better than, but invariably those fade and the Clippers return to their natural default position of being the Clippers.

The Los Angeles Clippers have not won a home game in well over a month, continuing that streak vs the Grizzlies on Monday.