The L.A. Clippers had made a surge from being the shadow of the Los Angeles Lakers and burst into the forefront, but sadly, former Clipper J.J. Redick knows the short duration of Lob City was a toxic chemistry, one that reached Donald Trump levels of petty.
The veteran sharpshooter went on Barstool Sports' Pardon My Take and addressed what went wrong and what ultimately destroyed a Clippers team with championship potential.
Via Dane Carbaugh of NBC Sports:
“I don't think there was one moment,” said Redick. “Doc used to always talk about how when one group was together for a long period of time, instead of getting closer together you end up pointing fingers at each other. It was weird because separately everybody was really cool with each other, off the court everybody sort of got along. And then, there was just so much pettiness, it was just pettiness.”
“It's weird to think what we had the potential to accomplish and what ultimately derailed that was pettiness. Like, Donald Trump-level pettiness.”
Redick was one of many winning championship pieces that were added during the construction of Lob City, along with Jamal Crawford, Luc Mbah A Moute, and others.
Unfortunately, the mercurial nature of Chris Paul's relationship with the rest of his teammates played a part in their eventual disbandment. Paul was the first to leave in a trade with the Houston Rockets, then Blake Griffin after being promised to become the franchise player, traded to the Detroit Pistons before the trade deadline. DeAndre Jordan was the last domino to fall, departing for the Dallas Mavericks with no All-Star teammates to barricade him from taking that back, as he did three years ago.
Redick didn't expound on the details of said pettiness, but it is one of the reasons why putting together All-Star rosters is such a dangerous propositions, as egos often clash and could become megalomaniacal in a matter of days.
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