The Los Angeles Clippers were eliminated in the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs, falling to the Denver Nuggets in a tightly contested seven-game series. The early exit caps off a promising but ultimately unfulfilled season and sets the stage for a high-stakes summer in Los Angeles.
While the loss stings, there were encouraging signs—most notably the chemistry between James Harden and Kawhi Leonard, a pairing that head coach Tyronn Lue and the front office seem eager to continue building around. Speaking after the Game 7 defeat, Lue alluded to the franchise’s intention to retain the star duo, saying as much without directly naming names.
Priorities: Harden First, Then Trades
According to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line, the first domino to fall this offseason will be Harden’s contract. Harden, 35, holds a player option for the 2025–26 season and is coming off an impressive campaign in which he averaged 22.8 points, 8.7 assists, and 5.8 rebounds per game—a performance that helped steady the Clippers following Paul George’s exit and silenced critics who feared the team would regress.
“Some rival teams expect the Clippers to be a team to watch in the trade market this summer once they get the Harden situation settled,” Fischer reported.
Fischer added that the Clippers are expected to pursue a deal that aligns Harden’s timeline with Leonard’s, who is under contract through the 2026–27 season. “A contract that lines [James] Harden up with [Kawhi] Leonard… certainly looms as a very plausible outcome,” Fischer wrote.
A Narrow Window—and Trade Chips in Hand
With limited cap flexibility, free agency will offer few opportunities for significant upgrades. Instead, the trade market looms large as the Clippers’ best avenue to reshape the roster. Thanks to a handful of short-term contracts signed after letting George walk, the team now holds several tradeable assets that could be flipped for help, either to reinforce the current core or reshape the supporting cast.
The Clippers’ willingness to part with those pieces—and what they demand in return—will be one of the defining questions of the offseason.
The Leonard-Harden Experiment: Still Worth Betting On?
While this postseason ended prematurely, the 2024 playoffs marked Leonard’s first relatively healthy appearance in the postseason since the 2020 bubble. His recent playoff history has been marred by injury:
- 2021: Knee injury cut his playoff run short.
- 2022: Missed the entire season due to recovery.
- 2023: Injured again, sidelined after Game 2 vs. Suns.
- 2024: Returned for Round 1 vs. Mavericks but was limited due to lingering issues.
Despite the Game 7 loss to Denver and Leonard’s persistent health concerns, the duo of Leonard and Harden showed enough this season to warrant another run. The Clippers were able to exceed expectations following George’s departure largely because of Harden’s resurgence and his fit alongside Leonard.
With the right trade, the Clippers could go from playoff disappointments to legitimate Finals contenders. The challenge now lies in making the right bet—on Harden, on health, and on who else should stay or go.