Once again, the Clippers couldn’t deliver in the playoffs and their two biggest stars – Kawhi Leonard and Paul George were largely unavailable.
George didn’t compete in the first round of the postseason against the Suns at all due to a knee sprain, while Kawhi only played in the first two games.
Clippers coach Ty Lue is under contract until the 2024-25 season but has been linked to the Suns coaching job that has opened up after Monty Williams was fired.
NBA writer Howard Beck reveals why Lue might be headed for the door.
“Here’s the interesting thing on the [Ty] Lue front: he’s been speculated about with all these jobs, despite the fact that he’s still under contract with the Clippers,” Beck said on his podcast this week.
“There have been rumblings for a while that [Ty Lue] might be getting impatient with the situation there [with Clippers]. It’s been wearing on him that he never has his stars available.”
46-year-old Lue has been LAC’s coach for the past four seasons – his first beginning in 2020.
In that time, Leonard and George haven’t been fully healthy for any of those postseason runs, which must be very disappointing from a coaching perspective.
The most successful season he’s had so far with the franchise was in 2020-21 when they reached the Western Conference Finals but were defeated by Phoenix.
There have been plenty of coaches let go recently but none are an obvious upgrade from Lue, so the Clippers will likely do everything they can over the summer to make sure he stays put.
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