MidValleySports.Com

By Tim Peterson

Is Kawhi Leonard the worst free agent signing ever? Leonard signed with the Clippers in 2019 after winning the title with Toronto. Well, the Clippers never won a title. They never really came close appearing in just one Western Conference Finals in six years, which Leonard missed due to an injury. In fact, he missed a lot of games. During that six-year span Leonard played in 277 out of a possible 492 games. Now they can’t get rid of him.

Meanwhile Leonard racked up over $300 million during that time while playing in just over 56 percent of the games. His initial $103 million, four-year contract was followed by a three-year, $149 million extension. It makes you wonder why the Clippers would extend him. They had a chance to get out of the Kawhi Leonard business but instead they doubled down. It was a gamble that went belly up.

The Clippers historically have a been a team that has seemed cursed. From Bill Walton (chronic injuries) to Danny Manning (ACL injury) to the young guns like Darius Miles, Corey Maggette, Lamar Odom and Elton Brand (chemistry issues), it never worked out.

Lob City came along with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin but the owner, Donald Sterling, was also there. He was banned for life in 2014 leading to distractions and playoff collapses that derailed that era.

Then Leonard was signed and paired with Paul George in what seemingly had championship written all over it. Leoanard never happened and of course a title never happened and here they are. It pains the Clipper faithful to think the team traded Shai-Gilgeous Alexander for George but that’s for another column.

The Clippers finally moved on by trading Leonard back to Toronto but the NBA’s recent decision to put that on hold to complete an investigation on the Clippers circumventing the salary cap is proof that the hex continues. Owner Steve Balmer has the bucks and a new arena but his next move should be to hire a spiritual healer, a religious leader? A priest? – anyone to remove this curse that has invaded the franchise. Maybe sprinkle some sage around the Intuit Dome. Anybody know a good ghost buster?

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The United States and Christian Pulisic are taking a lot of heat for falling to Belgium in the round of 16 but did anybody really think they were going to advance beyond that round let alone win World Cup? They went about as far as they were expected to.

If you look at the eight teams left it seems like every country has a guy. Argentina has Messi, Norway has Haaland, England has Kane, and France has arguably the best player right now in Mbappe and so on. The U.S. doesn’t have that. Pulisic, despite his recent issues, is nice. So is Folarin Balogun and Alex Freeman. But they don’t have that “guy”. They look to be headed in the right direction but obviously they aren’t there yet. Maybe in four years (or eight) they will be.

I just hope they don’t circumvent the salary cap.

That’s my principle.

Tim Peterson can be reached at tim.midvalleysports@gmail.com. Twitter (X) or Facebook – Tim Peterson.