INGLEWOOD — Clippers coach Tyronn Lue clearly is out of answers. He doesn’t know how to stop the team from spiraling completely out of control, having tried everything at his disposal.
After losing to the Dallas Mavericks on the heels of a loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, Lue said there are “no new steps right now” to be taken. He’s tried everything, leaving the Clippers to retrace the downward-heading steps that have led them to a 5-15 record.
There have been different rotations, different starters, different points of attack, all performed with the same depleted roster, empty bench and aging players, a fact that hasn’t escaped Lue and the rest of the coaching staff.
“We’ve tried a lot of different things, so we’ll keep trying,” Lue said.
Lue continues to believe the team’s problems are fixable and the season can be salvaged. He had suggested things would improve once Kawhi Leonard returned from ankle and foot injuries that sidelined him for 10 consecutive games. But the two-time Finals MVP has been back for four games, and the Clippers did not win any of them.
“I know we’ve had some tough circumstances in the last five years, which is six years, but I have been able to figure it out. But this year, it’s been tough,” Lue said.
But does Lue have time to figure things out?
After the back-to-back losses to teams with similar records, social media lit up with calls for a shake-up, either with the team, the coach, front office or all three. Most directed their ire at Lue, who signed a five-year, $70 million contract in May 2024.
And now, the Clippers head out on a difficult five-game trip that offers little hope of turning around their season or quieting the fans.
They first head to Miami to take on the Heat (13-7) on Monday. They will face the Atlanta Hawks (12-8) on Wednesday, the Grizzlies (8-12) on Friday, followed by the Minnesota Timberwolves (11-8) on Saturday in the second of a back-to-back.
The Clippers close out the 11-day trip against the Houston Rockets (12-4).
The shocking losses have also started to take a toll on the players as frustrations have spread throughout the locker room.
“The situation here is difficult,” 12-time All-Star James Harden said. “We’re not making shots offensively. Defensively, we just allow game-plan mistakes, we allow that to happen too many times, so that’s one of the reasons why we lose games.”
Center Ivica Zubac said a night earlier that the team’s problems aren’t solely on the coaching staff.
“It’s on us,” he said. “We’re out there playing. It’s on us. We got to put in more effort. It’s no one else. It’s us. We got to take care of the ball.”
Leonard, who has averaged 23.2 points in his four games back, said that if the Clippers want to move forward, the players, every single one, needs to “dig in within (themselves) and accept the challenge. It’s time to crawl out of the hole and it’s either you want to or stay down.”