Clippers Rumors: Testing the Clippers without Griffin and Paul (Simulation)

Blake Griffin and Chris Paul have become the cornerstones for the Los Angeles Clippers. Now, with Clippers rumors entailing their departure, how bad will LA be?

The Los Angeles Clippers are entering one of the most important offseasons in their franchise history. Both of their superstars, Blake Griffin and Chris Paul, have player options they can decline in favor of more money, or a new home. With many Clippers rumors signaling that we may see an end to lob city, it is a nerve-wracking time to be a Clipper fan.

The fact of the matter is that the team may not be able to keep both superstars. While they do own Bird rights on both, the Clippers would effectively be shooting themselves in the foot by going over the salary cap. This unit has proven to not be able to take that extra step, and effectively ruining their future for another first round elimination does not seem likely.

This may cause the Clippers to ask Paul and Griffin to either stay in their respective contracts or to take a pay cut to maintain their big three alongside DeAndre Jordan. However, that may not be enough.

First of all, Chris Paul, one of the best point guards to ever do it, is chasing that coveted NBA Championship. Paul has never even made it to the finals, and likely would continue that stretch in LA. This is why Clippers rumors spelling his departure to the Spurs are so heavy, Chris Paul in Greg Popovich’s system alongside Kawhi Leonard, LeMarcus Aldridge, and Pau Gasol would be deadly.

As for Blake Griffin, he likely wants to become the face of a franchise. He was initially that for the Clippers until Paul arrived and overshadowed him with his massive star. Griffin can make a lot of money elsewhere, and as he is young, he may opt for that option.

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Regardless, there is a good chance we may see the Clippers without their two stars, leaving DeAndre Jordan to pick up the pieces. Because of this, we took to the very popular NBA 2K17 game to simulate how the Clippers really would fare without their two stars.

First of all, Chris Paul indeed went to San Antonio, yet the Spurs only played to a 48-34 record. As for Griffin, he changed locker rooms in the Staples Center to play for the Lakers, giving them a slight improvement to 33-49.

As for the Clippers, the only real acquisition in this simulation was to bring in free agent Rajon Rondo to play behind Austin Rivers. This team was pretty bad.

The starting five consisted of Rivers, J.J. Redick, Wesley Johnson, Luc Mbah a Moute, and DeAndre Jordan. Redick was the top scorer, averaging 19.3 points per game, while Jordan averaged a double-double with 12.6 points and 10.7 rebounds per game.

Besides those two, the rest of the roster was a dud. Jamal Crawford thrived off the bench, scoring 16 a game, and Austin Rivers averaged 7.5 assists per game. Still, this team was not great.

This was evident by the record, this Clippers team without Paul and Griffin played to a 33-49 record. This was an 18 game regression, being their worst record since they went 32-50 in 2010-11. This was the year before Chris Paul joined Los Angeles.

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Overall, it is evident that the Los Angeles Clippers are not much without Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. The Clippers will need to replace their star power, or they may enter another awful era in the franchise.

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