Clippers’ Season Spirals After Home Loss to Grizzlies as Intuit Dome Debut Falls Flat
Monday night was supposed to be a fresh start. The LA Clippers were finally back home, playing their first game at the Intuit Dome in December after a whirlwind few weeks. But instead of a triumphant return, the night turned into yet another chapter in what’s quickly becoming a nightmare season.
The opponent? A struggling Memphis Grizzlies squad.
The setting? A Monday night game that wasn’t even on the original schedule, tacked on after NBA Cup group play wrapped up.
The vibe? Flat.
The crowd? Sparse.
And by the time the final buzzer sounded on a 121-103 blowout loss, the few fans who stayed around let the boos fly. Not angry, impassioned boos - more like the kind of disinterested groans that signal a fanbase slowly checking out.
And that’s the real issue. This isn’t just about a team underperforming. This is about a franchise that entered the season with championship aspirations and now finds itself scraping the bottom of the Western Conference standings, searching for answers.
From Hope to Hard Reality
It’s been a brutal stretch for the Clippers. The fallout from the Aspiration scandal, the surprise departure of franchise icon Chris Paul, and a roster that’s failed to gel despite big names like Kawhi Leonard and James Harden - it’s all added up to a season that’s gone off the rails.
That loss to Memphis wasn’t just another L in the standings. It felt symbolic.
Leonard and Harden were both on the floor, yet the Clippers got run off their own court by a team with a losing record. The energy in the building reflected the state of the franchise - disconnected, disillusioned, and dangerously close to apathy.
A Look Back at What Was Lost
Watching this version of the Clippers stumble brings back memories of what could’ve been - and what was given up. Paul George’s final season in LA, just two years ago, included a nine-game win streak and flashes of what the team was supposed to be.
But even then, cracks were showing. The Clippers got blown out in Oklahoma City twice that year, and while Leonard and Harden were booed by Thunder fans, George actually got a warm reception - a reminder of the impact he once had there.
George’s time in OKC was short but significant. His 2018-19 season was a career peak: third in MVP voting, third in DPOY, All-NBA First Team, league leader in steals, and a career-best 28.0 points per game. The Thunder turned that peak into a trade haul that rivals the Herschel Walker deal in terms of long-term impact.
The Clippers sent OKC a treasure chest of assets in that 2019 deal - seven first-round picks, including unprotected selections in 2022, 2024, and 2026, plus pick swaps and players like Danilo Gallinari and a then-promising rookie named Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. At the time, it was a bold move to land George and convince Leonard to join. But now, with hindsight, it’s hard not to feel the weight of that decision.
The Thunder Rise, the Clippers Fall
The trade didn’t truly start to sting until Gilgeous-Alexander blossomed into an All-NBA player in 2022-23. By the time George made his final appearance in OKC as a Clipper, the writing was on the wall.
That 2023-24 season marked the end of LA’s realistic title window, while the Thunder were just getting started. They claimed the West’s top seed in 2024 and, after George left for Philadelphia, went on to win the championship in 2025.
To make matters worse, key pieces of that Thunder title run were directly tied to the Clippers' past. Isaiah Hartenstein, once a backup big in LA, was a starter.
Jalen Williams, an All-NBA and All-Defensive selection, was drafted with a lottery pick the Clippers forfeited by missing the 2022 postseason. Talk about salt in the wound.
A Season That Wasn’t Supposed to Look Like This
This was supposed to be the final season of payments to OKC from the George trade. And while giving up a late first-rounder wouldn’t have been ideal, it was manageable - especially for a team that had consistently won under the leadership of Steve Ballmer, Lawrence Frank, and Tyronn Lue.
Leonard and Harden had never missed the playoffs in their careers. The floor was supposed to be 42 wins and a continuation of the league’s longest active streak of winning seasons (14 straight entering this year).
Instead, the foundation’s crumbling. Injuries have been a factor - Bradley Beal is out for the year, Leonard missed time in November, Derrick Jones Jr. has been sidelined for over a month, and Bogdan Bogdanović has barely seen the floor in 2025.
But even before the injury bug hit hard, the Clippers showed worrying signs. October losses to Utah and Golden State revealed a team lacking cohesion and urgency.
Now, after a 21-point loss in Oklahoma City last week, only the Washington Wizards have a worse record.
What Comes Next?
The Clippers now face back-to-back home games - their first such stretch this month - and the timing couldn’t be more critical. Up first?
The division-leading Lakers on Saturday. That game always means more for Ballmer, who’s made no secret of how much he values beating the purple and gold.
After that, it’s the surging Houston Rockets on Tuesday.
Saturday’s matchup isn’t just another regular-season game. It’s a litmus test.
A moment that could define where this season - and potentially this era - is heading. Because if the Clippers can’t show fight against their biggest rivals, in front of what’s expected to be a packed house, then we may be looking at the end of something much bigger than a playoff streak.
If the Clippers fall flat again and end the weekend at the bottom of the West, it may finally be time for Ballmer to step forward and address the elephant in the room: where exactly is this franchise going? Because right now, the only direction they’re headed is down.