Is this the end of the line for the current Clippers core?
When the Los Angeles Clippers swung a trade for Chris Paul - with a bit of help from David Stern and the NBA front office - on Dec. 14, 2011, it seemed to portend sunshine and rainbows for the longtime sad-sack franchise.
The ascendant Clippers were pairing Paul's otherworldly vision and passing with an explosive, wildly talented power forward in Blake Griffin, then coming off one of the great rookie seasons in modern NBA history. Beside Griffin they had DeAndre Jordan, an enormous and athletic young center who promised to be every bit the alley-oop finisher Tyson Chandler had been alongside Paul in New Orleans.
It was on that day the famed "Lob City" moniker was born. It was on that day the L.A. basketball paradigm shifted; no longer would the Clippers play little brother to the Lakers. On that day, a contender was born.
In theory, anyway.
Fast-forward five years, and the Clippers still, somehow, have never even tasted the conference finals. In the past five seasons, they've won 40 (prorated to 50), 56, 57, 56, and 53 games. In that time, only the Spurs and Thunder have won more. The Clippers have finished no lower than fifth in the West in any of those seasons. They've had a top-six offense in each, and twice finished No. 1. That would typically read like a successful half-decade for any franchise, let alone one that hadn't cracked the 50-win plateau in its 41 prior seasons.
And yet, one can't help but feel the team has dramatically underperformed its potential, with just three playoff series wins to show for its ostensible window of contention.
There's no definitive road map that can be traced back to show where things went off course, or why the Clippers haven't approached their destination. Maybe they rode with Vinny Del Negro for too long. Maybe they never prioritized depth enough. Maybe Doc Rivers never should've split coaching and general manager duties. Maybe the chemistry just wasn't right. Or maybe it was all just bad timing: the pitfall of trying to build a champion in an era abutted by dynastic juggernauts in San Antonio and Golden State, with the loaded Thunder and always-pesky Grizzlies lurking in between.
Whatever the case, the Clippers have still had their opportunities - if not to go all the way, then at least to do more.
In the second round in 2014, they blew a 13-point lead in the final four minutes of Game 5 against the Thunder - when a win would've given them a 3-2 series lead, with a closeout game at home. Last year, they gave themselves a 3-1 series cushion (and 19-point Game 6 lead) in the second round over a quasi-dysfunctional, banged-up Rockets team playing two 37-year-olds at point guard. The Rockets somehow beat them in seven.
This year, thanks to the Warriors' and Spurs' historically great seasons, for once nobody gave the Clippers much chance of doing any real playoff damage. That is, until their projected second-round opponent lost its best player - and the reigning league MVP - for at least two weeks. It was about as big an opening as the Clippers could've asked for. And in true Clippers fashion, it closed within hours.
The team announced Tuesday that Griffin will miss the rest of the postseason due to a lingering quad injury, while Paul will miss at least a month after fracturing his hand. Without those two, they likely aren't getting past the Trail Blazers - with whom they're now tied 2-2 in Round 1 - let alone the Curry-less Warriors in Round 2.
Where does this leave the current iteration of the Clippers? For all the talent on the roster, it's clear that something isn't quite right. As good as they've looked at times, they've appeared equally discombobulated and disinterested at others. For a team that boasts some of the league's most exciting players, they've been oddly joyless; whiny, dour, and resigned.
Paul's ornery, demanding nature reportedly nearly drove Jordan out of town last summer. Griffin just closed the book on a miserable season, marred by injuries and an ugly incident involving a team staffer that left him with a suspension and a broken hand. Both will be free agents next summer.
You'd hate to see the Clippers overreact to a run of hard luck by unnecessarily blowing up their nucleus. But as the Thunder showed last year in firing Scott Brooks, such extenuating circumstances can often provide the impetus for a team to electroshock itself out of stasis.
"We're right on the borderline," Doc Rivers said before the season began. "I have no problem saying that. I'm a believer that teams can get stale. After a while, you don't win. It just doesn't work. We're right at the edge. We just have to accept it."
Those words would prove awfully prophetic in the months that followed. The question now is: Are the Clippers still on the edge, or have they officially toppled over it? How many chances is too many?
The answers should come in short order.