A fans perspective 

Published Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday

Remember when

I do, the negative comments regarding the average age of the Lakers team. In 2021-22 they averaged 29.9 years of age as the oldest team in the NBA. As for the 2025-26 season the number averages out at 25-27 years of age. While they remain an older team they are no place near the oldest in the association, that honor belongs to the Clippers. Their 2025-26 roster averages 33.2 years of age making them the most ancient team in NBA history. Kawhi Leonard investigation aside, where does that leave the Clippers as a team, are they contenders or pretenders? Utilizing ESPN’s NBA page depth chart newcomer John Collins and holdover Ivica Zubac both age 28 are the youngest starters for the Clippers.

Kawhi Leonard is 34, Bradley Beal is 32 and James Harden is 36, Harden is backed up by 40 year old Chris Paul. Also standing by in reserve is 36 year old Nicolas Batum and 37 year old Brook Lopez. On paper the Clippers present a veteran starting five along with a group of veteran reserves. The players named and unnamed have certainly been through NBA wars during their careers but that makes for another concern…injuries. Despite his limited availability during his time with the Clippers Leonard remains the key. Paul George is gone so who picks up the gauntlet in his place, is it James Harden or one of the new arrivals. This Clippers team certainly contains the right ingredients to compete for an NBA championship, do they, “I’m from Missouri, you’ve got to Show Me.”

Basketball was the big winner

There is no argument from me, college football rules. It rules except for those colleges and universities that once played the sport and dropped it. From AI; “Colleges eliminate football primarily due to financial issues, such as budget deficits and the high cost of running a program. Other contributing factors include the physical risks of the sport, a desire to reallocate resources to academics or other sports, and recent shifts in the sport’s structure like the transfer portal and revenue sharing. Some schools have seen benefits like increased applications or research funding after cutting football.” There are instances generations of alum who never remember a time football was played at their school. Gonzaga a current basketball powerhouse once played the sport but abandoned it in 1941 (probably due to World War II) and never revived the program.

Creighton, which almost always turns out winning basketball teams eliminated football in 1942, this was probably also done due to the war. As for others it was much later, St. Louis University in 1949 for St. Bonaventure University located in Western New York State it was 1951 while Marquette saw football disappear in 1960. Bill Russell’s University of San Francisco Dons quit the sport in 1971. After the 1973 season Xavier (Ohio) dropped its football program. Wichita State suffered a horrendous tragedy in October 1970, several members of the football team, coaching staff and others perished in a charter aircraft crash. Despite the tragedy Wichita State carried on with its football program until 1986 when it was discontinued. In the 2000’s we saw St. John’s (2002), Hofstra (2009) and Northeastern (2009) eliminate football. There are other “basketball only” schools that were not included in this brief look.

Don’t Worry be Happy 

In my opinion it’s not good practice to worry about the future. For the most part often there are elements at work we have little if any control over. Example, I’m concerned about retirement and BAM I win the lottery with the exception of my health and my family there are no longer any worries. That’s an extreme example, the next portion deals with the Lakers and two separate reports. One report “Luka might want to leave the Lakers when he becomes a free agent.” The next one says; “There is hope LeBron James remains through retirement.” Working backwards LeBron is first, birthday number 41 occurs in December. Although I maintain he remains a valuable commodity as a player he’s still old by NBA standards.

If LeBron should decide to leave in free agency the Lakers should prepare themselves for that eventuality. You don’t simply replace a talent similar to him easily however a committee approach perhaps adding two players to replace one. As for Luka his situation is slightly different because he is much younger however much of what you read about LeBron applies to him as well. In conclusion anytime free agency is at work the athlete has the upper hand, I have no problem with that being the case. At the same time I don’t believe the Lakers or any other professional sports team should be held hostage in the manner of Uncle Dennis. Superstar talent is not easily replaced however if either athlete decides to walk there is not much the Lakers can do about it. Reminds me of that old Bobby McFerrin pop tune; “Don’t Worry be Happy.” That’s the road to take to ensure the best health.

He owes us and especially them

The us is NBA fans especially the Clippers and the ownership of the team. This is presented prior to completion of the investigation into Aspiration and its connection to Kawhi Leonard. There is no doubt Leonard is overpaid in volumes based on the amount of time he spends on the court. If you check his numbers for this past season they are certainly above average, the only drawback is the number of games he played. Leonard only played 37 games, his first game of the season was played January 4, 2025, the NBA season had begun October 22, 2024. This number represented the lowest number of games played since he’d become a Clipper, of course Leonard was returning from injury once again which is commonplace for him. Check this out, in the 5 years Leonard’s played for the Clippers the most games played in any one season is the 68 he played in the 2023-24 season.

Since Leonard’s arrival to the Clippers there have been 410 games on the schedule, of that number Leonard’s been available to play in 266 of them, that’s about 64.9% of the games on the Clippers schedule. How bad is this issue, its serious enough where I’m quoting Stephen A. Smith. “He (Leonard) does absolutely, positively, nothing to promote your franchise…I have said on many, many, and I will say it again, he is the worst superstar I have ever seen in sports history. This is not about his play and it’s not about his character…If you’re averaging over $40.3 million a year in your career with the Clippers, can you do interviews? Can you do promotional appearances?” Professional athletes are in a fishbowl I believe we understand that fact, the only portion of Smith’s statement I disagree is the promotional appearances. If the Clippers management signed off on no promotions that is a non-issue for me. Kawhi Leonard has been an enigma throughout his NBA career so perhaps we expect far too much. It was pointed out Leonard has two years remaining on his contract, unless he leads them to an NBA championship they might consider not renewing it. Of course what is covered here has nothing to do with the Aspiration investigation.

A portion from si.com nba