The LA Clippers are a defensive puzzle right now-and not the kind that just needs a few pieces to click into place. We're talking about a team that, just last season, was one of the most reliable units on that end of the floor.
Top five in defensive rating. Disciplined.
Connected. Tough.
Fast forward to this season, and that same team-largely intact-is struggling to get stops on a nightly basis. The drop-off isn’t just surprising, it’s jarring.
You don’t need to pour over hours of film to see it either. Pick five possessions at random, and odds are you’ll see breakdowns in communication, slow rotations, and transition defense that’s a step (or three) too slow. And while defensive slippage can sometimes be chalked up to effort or chemistry, in the Clippers’ case, it’s something more fundamental: they just don’t have the athleticism to keep up.
That’s not to say this group lacks talent-far from it. But when it comes to lateral quickness, vertical bounce, and the ability to recover when a possession breaks down, LA is noticeably limited. The absence of one of their most athletic players-someone who was right there with John Collins in terms of raw explosiveness-has only made those limitations more obvious.
And yet, in typical Clippers fashion, they’ve managed to surprise us. Just not in the way fans were hoping.
No one expected a defensive collapse this steep, especially with so many familiar faces returning. But here we are.
LA has shown that even a team with a proven system and a respected coach like Tyronn Lue can fall off a cliff defensively if the physical tools aren’t there.
Here’s the hard truth: even if Lue shuffled the rotation to prioritize his best defenders-gave them more minutes, more responsibility-it probably wouldn’t move the needle much. Defensive schemes can be tweaked, rotations can be tightened, but you can’t coach verticality. You can’t scheme your way into faster closeouts or quicker hips on the perimeter.
Last season, the Clippers got by with just one player who brought elite-level bounce-Derrick Jones Jr.-and it didn’t seem to hurt them. But this year, the collective lack of mobility is catching up.
The team is slower to react, less disruptive in passing lanes, and far too inconsistent in transition. The result?
A defense that struggles to string together stops and gets exposed against quicker, more athletic opponents.
So what’s the fix? That’s the million-dollar question.
February is typically the time when fans start looking toward trades, hoping for a shake-up that can change the trajectory. But let’s be honest-if the Clippers couldn’t solve these issues over the course of an entire offseason, it’s hard to believe a trade or two will suddenly make them a top-tier defense again.
This isn’t a case of one or two weak links dragging the group down. It’s a systemic issue, rooted in roster construction and physical limitations.
Could they fire Lue? Sure.
Could they overhaul the roster? Maybe.
But unless those changes bring in a serious injection of speed, bounce, and defensive versatility, the problems will persist.
Fixing a defense this broken takes more than effort. It takes time, patience, and the right personnel. And right now, the Clippers are short on all three.