Head coach Ty Lue and the Los Angeles Clippers are currently in the midst of what figures to be a highly important offseason as for the future direction of the franchise. The Clippers are coming off of another first round postseason exit in which Kawhi Leonard missed the majority of the games, and Lue and his staff are now faced with more questions than answers moving forward, particularly as star forward Paul George can hit free agency this summer if he chooses.
Speaking of Lue's staff, recently, the Clippers signed former New York Knicks head coach and ESPN commentator Jeff Van Gundy to help patrol their sidelines under Lue, and now, Van Gundy is getting one hundred percent honest on the job and whether or not he'd ever consider a return to the head coaching profession.
“You know the good thing is I've always followed my dad's advice to me long ago just worry about the job you have at hand,” said Van Gundy, per Zach Lowe's The Lowe Post Podcast, via NBA on ESPN on YouTube. “I don't think anybody necessarily just aspires to be an assistant coach but these head coaches, coaching jobs there's so many qualified candidates and so few jobs. And so I've had, when I was broadcasting, opportunities to be both an assistant and a head coach again that for many reasons I chose you know to pass on. Whether they come back around again we'll see. I interviewed with one this year that didn't work out, but yeah I think I'm really excited about this job with the Clippers, not what this job is going to possibly to for me from an employment standpoint.”
Will the Clippers ever break through?
When Paul George and Kawhi Leonard joined forces in the City of Angels five years ago, it was supposed to be the start of a potential dynastic run of success for a franchise that has long been one of the NBA's premier punchlines. Instead, those punchlines have only continued during the duo's injury-riddled run together, as the one healthy playoff run they were able to embark on with both stars in the lineup ended with the team blowing a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Bubble back in 2020.
2023-24 was supposed to be different. Both Leonard and George played the overwhelming majority of games for the Clippers during the regular season and were looking to be healthy as the playoffs got underway starting with a first round series vs the Dallas Mavericks.
However, Leonard once again had a mysterious knee issue flare up at exactly the wrong time leading into the postseason, and the star only played two out of the five games vs the Mavericks before being sat down the rest of the way. At this point, it's certainly fair to wonder whether Leonard and George will ever be able to get over the hump–that is, if George is even a member of the Clippers next year.
Free agency is slated to begin shortly after the NBA Draft next week.
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