The fact that the Los Angeles Clippers are already above .500 after a 6-21 start to the 2025-26 season is already a dream come true. It was looking like the Clippers were going to have to blow it up, and to some extent, they have, but they have found a new lease in life as a contender with Kawhi Leonard leading the way.
Leonard may have admitted that competing for a title isn't very realistic for this current Clippers team. Perhaps that is true. But LA has at least remodeled the team around him, infused it with some youth, and they are not better set up for the future. Darius Garland is under contract for a few more years. Bennedict Mathurin will be up for a new deal, but keeping him should be worth it for LA.
Nonetheless, the Clippers, now playing with house money, have a chance to keep on stunning the world. Now that they're here, they might as well spoil the party for one of the big contenders of the association.
To that end, this is the dream scenario the Clippers will be hoping for as the 2026 NBA playoffs near.
Clippers get seventh seed, stun Spurs in first round of 2026 NBA playoffs
At present, the Clippers' 34-33 record has them six and a half games back of the sixth spot (owned by the Minnesota Timberwolves) and five games back of the Phoenix Suns for the seventh spot. With 15 games to go in the Clippers' season, it is very unlikely for them to catch those two teams.
The realistic best-case scenario for the Clippers is that they simply hold on to the eighth seed, have everyone healthy come playoff time, and perhaps defeat the seventh-placed West team for the seventh seed and face the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the 2026 NBA playoffs.
That is far from a guarantee for LA at this point. Leonard is currently dealing with an ankle injury, and it's unclear how much time he has to miss, if any. The Golden State Warriors are only two games back of them in the win-loss column. While the Dubs have been dealing with a plethora of injury problems of their own, Stephen Curry could be back soon — changing things drastically for them.
Holding off the Dubs is the number one priority at present, and even then, winning against the Phoenix Suns in a likely play-in tournament clash would be difficult. Phoenix should have Dillon Brooks and Mark Williams back by then. They have a swarming defense that can make life difficult for a perimeter-based team like the Clippers, and they have a ton of shot-makers who can stretch LA's defense.
The Suns have not made it this far by simply rolling over when the times get tough. But at the very least, being the eighth-seeded team in the West gives the Clippers two cracks at making it to the postseason. If they lose against Phoenix, a game against the Warriors or Portland Trail Blazers could at least buy them a first-round matchup against the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder.
Now, a matchup against the Thunder is never ideal. The Spurs may not be an easy matchup, but in a conference where there are no easy series, that is at least the more appealing poison to pick instead of a matchup against OKC.
This is why the blueprint for the Clippers is simple: hold on to the eighth seed, win against the seventh-placed team in the play-in tournament (likely to be the Suns), and then give the Spurs everything they can handle.
Without Ivica Zubac, a matchup against Victor Wembanyama is going to be impossible to handle. But the Clippers have faced long odds in the past, and they at least have a few stout perimeter defensive weapons in Derrick Jones Jr. or Nicolas Batum to throw at him. Even Kris Dunn could be disruptive for a few possessions here and there.
The problem, of course, is that the Spurs can run the Clippers out of the building, and San Antonio has such a well-balanced roster around Wembanyama that slowing down their star center may not be enough.
Even then, having Leonard on the roster, a certified playoff killer, gives the Clippers a puncher's chance in any playoff series. It's not like the Spurs have a designated lockdown defender on the perimeter that could drastically slow down Leonard's production; in contrast, OKC has Lu Dort, Alex Caruso, and Cason Wallace to make life hell for Leonard.
But at the end of the day, making it to the playoffs is already such a huge win for a Clippers team that, at one point, looked like it would convey a top-five pick to the Thunder due to their putrid start to the 2025-26 campaign.
