The Los Angeles teams aren’t favored as most of the focus is on defending champ Denver and rising powers Phoenix and Milwaukee as the NBA season begins Tuesday
The Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard, left, is defended by the Lakers’ Austin Reaves and LeBron James in the second half April 5, 2023, at Crypto.com Arena. From a 30,000-foot perspective, the Lakers and Clippers are not the hot storylines as the NBA prepares for its 78th season.
That still happens, but with varying degrees of success. James Harden was still a Philadelphia 76er at last glance, his demand to come to the Clippers ignored because Sixers’ GM Daryl Morey didn’t get an offer he felt made sense. But Damian Lillard is now a Milwaukee Buck, accepting his eventual destination after his first desire, Miami, didn’t work out.
The locals, of course, are keeping track of all of this. Around the Lakers’ building, the number 18 – as in that elusive championship to break the tie with the Celtics – is uttered as reverently as it is in Boston.
It will hinge on health as it usually has for the Clippers, and as it does for each of the league’s 30 teams. Miller estimated that if they get 66 to 70 regular-season games out of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George – 66 to 70 each, now, not combined – they can put themselves in an advantageous spot going into the playoffs.
Said Miller: “This is a guy that sacrificed a bag. He could have gone to a middle-of-the-road team and probably earned a lot more than he’s making now. But he went from earning $50, 60 million down to, like, damn near the league minimum. But this is a dude that plays hard. Not every game – every possession, like it’s his last.
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