The Los Angeles Clippers are currently on a four-game skid and have lost 13 of their last 16 games. Different rotations and new offseason additions have not helped head coach Ty Lue.
Clippers Fans Demanding Accountability
Lue suggested last month that everything would improve once star forward Kawhi Leonard returned from ankle and foot injuries that sidelined him for 10 straight games.
However, Leonard has been back for four games now, and the Clippers haven’t won any of them. Since Leonard’s return, the two-time NBA Finals MVP has averaged 27 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.3 steals per game.
“I know we’ve had some tough circumstances in the last five years, which is six years, but I have been able to figure it out. But this year, it’s been tough,” said Lue.
It’s understandable to have a minutes restriction on an injured player returning, but Kawhi is moving smoothly today. It’s mind-boggling that Lawrence Frank and Steve Ballmer have no backbone to fire Ty Lue and find the right coach.
— Christopher Chan (@ChrisJKapp) November 29, 2025
We have the two best players on the court and a homecourt advantage and lost
Ty Lue needs to go
— clippa twitta (@clipfullyloaded) November 29, 2025
I genuinely think if @LAClippers fire Ty Lue and bring in Michael Malone they would be a winning team. Ty Lue does not know what he’s doing man please fire him.
— slyz 𝕏 (@SlyzSzn) December 1, 2025
Fans, in particular, are growing impatient after watching the Clippers suffer back-to-back losses to teams with similar records. They’ve been calling for change with either the head coach and/or the front office.
Lue signed a five-year, $70 million contract in May 2024. The Missouri native is one of the NBA’s highest-paid coaches at approximately $14 million per year.
“This is where I want to be,” Lue said in a statement then. “I’ve loved coaching this team for the past four years and I’m excited to head into a new era at Intuit Dome. I’m grateful to Steve, Lawrence, and the entire organization for the opportunity. With our ownership, front office, roster, staff and arena, we have all the advantages we need to win in the present and the future, and I’m confident we will.”
Los Angeles To Start Five-Game Road Trip
For the worst part, things aren’t about to get any easier for Los Angeles.
The Clippers are scheduled to head out on a challenging five-game trip, starting with a flight down to Miami to face the Heat (13-7) on Monday.
They will then face the Atlanta Hawks (12-8) on Wednesday, the Memphis Grizzlies (8-12) on Friday, and the Minnesota Timberwolves (11-8) on Saturday in the second game of a back-to-back set. The Clippers close out the 11-day trip against the Houston Rockets (12-4).
What’s more, the losses are taking a toll on the players as well.
“The situation here is difficult,” James Harden said. “We’re not making shots offensively. Defensively, we just allow game-plan mistakes, we allow that to happen too many times, so that’s one of the reasons why we lose games.”
But not all of the Clippers’ issues can be blamed on the coaching staff. Center Ivica Zubac made that point clear following Friday night’s 112-107 loss to the Grizzlies.
“It’s on us,” Zubac told reporters after the game. “We’re out there playing. It’s on us. We got to put in more effort. It’s no one else. It’s us. We got to take care of the ball.”
Clippers Remain Under NBA Investigation
Some would say the offseason story involving Leonard, the Clippers, and Aspiration, a former team sponsor that filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, doomed the team’s season before it could even begin.
A distraction like that only brings negative attention to a franchise.
Leonard became the subject of controversy back in September, when it was reported by The Athletic’s Pablo Torre on his “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast that the six-time All-Star had signed a $28 million endorsement deal for Aspiration.
Leonard reportedly didn’t do any work for Aspiration, leading to speculation that the $28 million endorsement agreement was a route for Leonard to earn additional money on top of his NBA salary that would have helped Los Angeles circumvent the salary cap.
The league is currently investigating the claim to determine if there was any impropriety. The Clippers initially released statements to Torre and then to the Los Angeles Times denying any wrongdoing.
