On Monday night the Sixers will be back in action on their home floor, facing a team whose struggles they remain very invested in.
James Harden and the Los Angeles Clippers will be in town, and ever since the Sixers dealt the legendary guard to his hometown team for a package centered around draft picks they have had a vested interest in the Clippers spiraling near the end of this decade. After a surprising 50-win season last year that was derailed by a humiliating Game 7 playoff loss, the Clippers have struggled mightily to begin the 2025-26 campaign; they are 4-8 even after a herculean Harden performance carried them past the Dallas Mavericks.
Oh, and you might have heard about a little scandal surrounding the Clippers and their ultimate franchise cornerstone, Kawhi Leonard. What role have the Aspiration story and allegations of salary cap circumvention played in this Clippers season? Will the Clippers turn their season around? How should the Sixers value the picks they acquired for Harden?
Here to break it all down is Robert Flom, a must-read and must-follow for all things Clippers. Rob writes for 213 Hoops and hosts The Lob, The Jam, The Podcast. Let’s find out where Rob stands on all of the questions above:
Adam Aaronson: I guess I have to lead with an Aspiration question! The start of this Clippers season, from afar, has appeared miserable. Is there a connection between the team’s slow start and the looming Kawhi Leonard scandal? How have the allegations of salary cap circumvention impacted Clippers fans?
Robert Flom: Two great, connected questions here. Quite frankly, I’m not sure there’s too much of a connection between the team’s slow start and the Aspiration business. The team’s vibes were quite strong in preseason and training camp, which was when the Aspiration scandal was more in the news, and questions about Aspiration haven’t come up a ton. I’m sure it’s lingering in the back of everyone’s mind, but I think the reason the team has started slow is more to do with Kawhi Leonard’s injury, Bradley Beal being awful and then getting injured, and some of the team’s signings being unplayably bad (Chris Paul, Brook Lopez).
As for how allegations have impacted fans, I think there are multiple camps. One is that the Clippers did nothing wrong and there is full faith in the team, Kawhi, and Ballmer; this camp is extremely angry at Pablo Torre. Another is that the Clippers probably did something wrong, but that the question of whether its actually cap circumvention is complicated because Leonard took a max and the Clippers seemingly did not get a ton of benefit from any under-the-table deal outside of Leonard’s happiness. This camp has more or less put the Aspiration stuff to the back burner while actual games are being played. Finally, there is a small group that finds Steve Ballmer and Leonard guilty and has been turned off by the team at least a bit by the scandal. On the whole though, I think fans are far more wrapped up in the underperforming on-court product than the off-court dealings.
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AA: Given the severity of the Clippers’ early-season struggles, how likely does an eventual turnaround feel to you? Is this a salvageable season? What will be the keys to the Clippers finding themselves and avoiding such a massive disappointment of a season?
RF: It all really depends on what you mean by turnaround and salvageable. If it’s just “the Clippers will end up being a competent team that makes the postseason,” I think the answer is certainly, “It’s possible.” They are 4-8 right now, and were 3-3 in games Leonard played. As the team gets Leonard back (always a question, to be fair) and figures out rotations (progressing as of late), I think it’s pretty reasonable to think they can get to around .500 or even a bit above by the end of the year. But I do think that barring a surprise trade or breakout from younger players, the idea this team can be even a fringe contender is not really feasible considering the Beal injury and the play of their older guys.
As for the keys to the Clippers’ turnaround, let’s ignore health for best players, since that applies to almost all NBA teams. The number one key for this team is a return to the defensive form of last season. The Clippers ranked third in defensive rating in the 2025 season. So far through 12 games (a decently large sample!) they are 23rd. If the Clippers can work their way back to being a top-10 defense (forget top-five), they have a solid chance of at least making the Play-In Tournament. I’d say the other key is the play of their younger players. It truly does seem as though a lot of the Clippers’ old guys are cooked, which means at least one if not multiple of the Kobe Sanders, Cam Christie, Jordan Miller, Kobe Brown group of younger guys needs to become a reliable role player. If the Clippers’ young guys do hit at all, the depth issue will be averted and the Clippers can get back on track.
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AA: Courtesy of the James Harden trade, the Sixers own the Clippers’ unprotected 2028 first-round pick and have the right to swap first-round picks with the Clippers in 2029 (top-three protected). Based on everything you know about the Clippers, from their short-term contention window to their long-term goals, young players (or lack thereof) and even the Aspiration scandal, how valuable do you think those assets are to the Sixers?
RF: I think the Clippers’ draft picks are overinflated in terms of value. The Clippers have never tanked in the Steve Ballmer era. In fact, they have never finished below .500 in the Steve Ballmer era, with their worst season being a 42-40 campaign in 2018. The counterargument is that the Clippers’ best players are very old and likely to either be retired or not very impactful by 2028-2029. So even though the Clippers are not known for tanking and have no reason to tank considering they obviously don’t own their picks, there’s a chance they give a lottery pick away in a few years.
However, the other major thing to consider is that the Clippers’ entire plan of action for years now has been to clear cap space for next summer and the summer of 2027 to target max players in free agency. Now, Sixers fans know all about how such “cap space plans” can backfire, but the Clippers’ goal is definitely to sign younger star players in the next year or two. Things could change in the interim, especially if the franchise does get punished severely for the Aspiration scandal, but stars will always want to play in LA and Ballmer is willing to pay. My guess would be the Clippers get at least one star player in the next year or two (even if it’s a Trae Young-type talent and not a Giannis Antetokoummpo-level guy) and are at least reasonably competitive in the late 2020s.
My advice to Daryl Morey (are you reading, Daryl?) would actually be to sell high on those picks to try to get other core pieces around the Tyrese Maxey-VJ Edgecombe backcourt rather than wait on those picks to come to fruition. The Clippers could very well be awful in 2028 or 2029, but I think if there was ever going to be a very down year, it would probably be next season, not two years from now.
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