The LA Clippers had been the hottest team in the NBA entering a Saturday night contest against the worst team in the NBA. The Sacramento Kings entered the contest with a league-worst record of 16-51 while the Clippers had won 28 of their last 39 games, becoming the first time to come back from being 15 games under .500 to climb back over .500 in the same season.
What followed was the start of a potentially season-altering game.
The Clippers dropped the game against the shorthanded Kings, 118-109, but it was contest in which they trailed by as many as 20 points and never appeared to be in it. There was a stretch in the fourth quarter where the Clippers got within three, but that coincided with Kawhi Leonard, who suffered a laceration that required stitches in the first half, exiting the game with 9:27 left in the fourth quarter and not returning due to a left ankle sprain.
Leonard did not suit up in the following game against the San Antonio Spurs, another loss against the second best team in the NBA despite holding an 18-point lead in the first half. That loss also saw Bennedict Mathurin suffer a toe injury that has since held him out of the Clippers' three-game road trip, and could hold him out even longer depending on how his toe responds to rehab and treatment.
Wednesday and Thursday saw the Clippers head to New Orleans to take on the Pelicans, a place that has famously given the franchise fits over the last half-decade or so. And if you're a fan of the team, there was nothing the least bit surprising about watching the Clippers lose both the game in which Kawhi Leonard and Darius Garland played as well as the game both sat out.
This was supposed to be a massive opportunity for the Clippers to make up ground in the Western Conference standings and potentially out of the play-in. It was a long shot, but the Clippers climbed to a 34-32 record entering the Kings game on March 14th, trailing the seventh seeded Phoenix Suns by just four games in the loss column and the Denver Nuggets by six in the loss column.
Clippers now in a 3 way tie for the 8th seed. Injuries hit at the worst time, as they've now lost 4 games in a row (including 3 to the worst teams in the league).
LA has lost all the momentum they had and were unable to make up any ground on the Suns, who have also lost 4 games… pic.twitter.com/qjZXrDvSCk
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 20, 2026
LA also had a very favorable schedule based on their strength of schedule and rest advantage games compared to their opponents while the Suns were facing a road trip that included the Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves, and San Antonio Spurs.
Now the Clippers are staring at a four-game losing streak, making up no ground on Phoenix despite their own four-game losing streak, while the Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers have crept up behind them to try and escape the dreaded 9-10 play-in game.
The Clippers are considered to have one of the easiest remaining schedule strengths, with multiple games against the Dallas Mavericks and Milwaukee Bucks still on tap. This season, however, appears like it'll come down to three games:
March 31 vs. Portland Trail Blazers
April 10 @ Portland Trail Blazers
April 12 vs. Golden State Warriors
Entering Friday, the Clippers, Blazers, and Warriors are all tied in the loss column with 36 losses. The Clippers are dealing with the injuries to Kawhi Leonard and Bennedict Mathurin, the Blazers are still without Shaedon Sharpe, and the Warriors are without Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler.
LA currently owns a 2-1 series lead over the Warriors with one game remaining on the final day of the season. Last season, the Clippers and Warriors played a game on the final day of the NBA regular season to decide who would get a top-six seed and who would fall to the play-in tournament.
The Clippers currently lead their season series against the Trail Blazers, 2-0, with two more games over the final two weeks of the season.
It remains to be seen how bothersome Kawhi Leonard's ankle injury is and how severe the toe injury of Bennedict Mathurin's is, but with the Blazers winning four of their last six games and the Warriors expected to get Stephen Curry back by the end of the month, we could be gearing up for an epic battle for play-in positioning.
