In the NBA offseason, the Los Angeles Clippers added two big fish in the boat in Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. Certainly, the duo should be enough to make even the most moribund franchise relevant once again.
Still, that chapter remains to be written for the current era of the Clippers; who open things up at Staples against the Lakers on October 22nd.
Furthermore, things got hairier for the Clips on Sunday. Let’s kick things off with Ramona Shelburne’s report on Paul George:
Paul George Out For Extended Time Due To Shoulder Surgeries
Paul George says he’s out all of October recovering from shoulder surgeries (plural), which means the Clippers won’t have one of their two new stars for at least the first 6 games of the year. https://t.co/pjLcf7C4in
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) September 30, 2019
Now, Shelburne reports that George will be out all of October while recovering from multiple shoulder surgeries. What this means is the Clippers will be without George for at least their first six games of the season.
Here’s what George told ESPN:
“I will be out of the preseason,” George told ESPN. “As of now, I’ll be out of October fully, but who knows? We’ll see. In the November range is our target date.”
Overall, pretty vague. Which is a nice lead-in to our next point on what led to a tough end of the weekend for the Clippers.
Kawhi Leonard Wasn’t Feeling Media Day
There’s not a ton to say in this portion of the post. Seriously, that fits with how Leonard was feeling as Clippers’ media day was wrapping up. For instance, check out this NBA on ESPN tweet:
Kawhi was done with media day 😂
(via @LAClippers)pic.twitter.com/xvAK9776hH
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) September 30, 2019
While it’s alright to be a little aloof with the media when you’re a superstar on Leonard’s level, it’s simply not a good look at his first team media day.
Therefore, when Leonard attended the Rams game; he wasn’t greeted with the best response from his hometown fans. Yet it’s important to add that the Rams were giving up almost 60 points to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. To put it lightly, they had every right to be in a foul mood.
Some fans booed Kawhi at the Rams-Bucs game in Los Angeles …
(via @RPMSports18)
pic.twitter.com/alpRzWK8qv— ESPN (@espn) September 29, 2019
Finally, the Clippers went a respectable 48-34 in the 2018-2019 season under head coach Doc Rivers. Certainly, it’s reasonable to expect marked improvement when you add two players like Leonard and George. However, let the record state that things haven’t gotten off to the most shining start at the outset for the new era.
