This season's Western conference teams are fiercely competitive, so that many traditional strong teams have been forgotten, because Paul George suffered an injury in the middle of the season, so now the Clippers' record has been further shelved, they are currently only in the eighth place in the West, without Leonard and Paul George, the Clippers obviously can not go to the top four in the West, after all, the West is full of strong teams.
But they can still compete in the playoffs after these two stars, and under the guidance of Lu, they can still reverse their opponents by a large margin in some games, which shows the resilience of the Clippers and the ability of their coaching staff, so once Paul George and Ka Jr. can return this season, they will immediately become a championship team.
More importantly, the Clippers have recently made strong reinforcements, they got Covington and Powell before the trade deadline, the addition of these two will greatly improve the Clippers' offensive and defensive capabilities, Powell scored 28 points in his last game debut, fully demonstrating his offensive ability, and Covington also played very well in his debut, Covington's joining made the Clippers' forward defense ability climb to the top level of the league, and Powell's joining will improve the Clippers' bench scoring ability, The Clippers now have at least five players who are averaging more than 20 points per game.
The Clippers' wave of operations has indeed given the Lakers a problem, the current ranking between the Clippers and Lakers is very delicate, they will become the biggest opponents competing in the playoffs, when Paul George and Leonard return, it is clear that the Lakers will have a hard time matching the Firepower of the Clippers, which is a very big challenge for the Lakers. Therefore, the Lakers must be able to win as many games as possible in the next game to improve the ranking and seize the advantage. But the Lakers' early sweet schedule has passed, and their next schedule is very challenging, which is also a huge uncertainty.
The Clippers are currently in the regular season in the feigned death phase, and once they can make the playoffs, they will become a dark horse. George and Leonard will still be favourites after their comeback, so that's why Ballmer is determined to reinforce before the trade deadline, and they don't want to give up this season's title race. We'll see what miracles the Clippers will do to us this season.