The LA Clippers are in a tough situation in the playoffs and in the future, players like Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, DeAndre Jordan and Jamal Crawford may ask for a trade if Donald Sterling remains the owner in Los Angeles after his racist comments went public and head coach Doc Rivers has already said he is questioning a return and deals to the Chicago Bulls or NY Knicks could be extreme options in the future if the situation is not rectified.
Chris Paul is the head of the NBA Players Association and the team already staged a silent protest in Game 4 and more could happen down the line, as the Clippers play Game 5 at home on Tuesday and Sterling has been asked not to attend. The league is investigating and no matter what happens, the players will want some decisive action and if Sterling remains the owner of the team, there could be some major issues with team signing free agents and keeping players like Griffin and Paul could be an issue as well and while it's not likely now, trades could be asked for in the future.
Paul was originally traded to the Lakers before the NBA nixed that deal and sent him to the Clippers, while Griffin has turned into one of the best players in the NBA and he would be targeted by a ton of teams if he was on the trade market. The Chicago Bulls and the NY Knicks could look to take advantage of the situation by making deals for some of those players, while DeAndre Jordan has also established himself as a very good player in the league.
Sponsors have started to pull away from the Clippers and that is step one in this process and things are expected to keep moving in that direction. The Clippers were beaten soundly by the Warriors in their playoff series game on Sunday and now they must rebound to try and get control of the series. The team's future is up in the air with this situation and the NBA needs to get its arms around it to deal with things, as Sterling and the Clippers will be front and center until they are eliminated.
The Warriors took a 23 point lead in the game at one point and Paul now is the focus of the situation as well with his participation in the NBAPA. The team pulled a silent protest before Game 4 and while no boycott of the games went down, it was discussed and that could come up again in the future. The team now has a number of issues to work out and if Sterling remains the owner, trades could happen in the future even if that is not what the team wants to do.
The trade that the NBA vetoed to the Los Angeles Lakers involving Paul now has a different feel to it after the comments came out, as the Clippers was afforded a very lucky decision there and that basically put the franchise on the path to where it is now. After years and years of losing, mismanagement and terrible decisions, the team finally was outshining the Lakers in LA and now all that is basically gone as long as Sterling remains the owner.
