The LA Clippers cannot think about the Kawhi Leonard situation anymore. Obviously, the punishment that they received from the situation is going to follow them for years. They are going to be struggling to recoup draft assets for the next decade. But they can't think of it in the context of the Leonard situation anymore.
Because if the Clippers spend the next five years with their heads down constantly thinking about the Leonard situation, then they aren't going to make any progress. All they can do now is accept the situation for what it is, react to it, and move forward with the organization. The Leonard situation is over, and LA must treat it as such.
No more Leonard talk. No pouting, no moping, no being upset about it anymore. All that's left for the Clippers to do is rebuild their draft cabinet and deal with the situation that's in front of them as it is.
Clippers need to forget about the Kawhi Leonard situation
At the end of the day, the Clippers were just trying to put the best possible product on the floor for their fan base. They did it in a bad way, and it came back to bite them, but they were trying to be competitive.
Now, cheating is not the way to do that. Trying to skirt around the salary cap in order to bring a player to town was never going to be the best option for the franchise. And I think everyone realizes that now more than ever.
However, it's over and done with. It happened. There is no changing the past. So, all that's left for the Clippers to do is think about the future. And they definitely need to think about the future.
Right now, the Clippers are headed into next season with Brandon Ingram and Darius Garland headlining their roster. Those two are solid players, but they aren't exactly equipped to lead the team into the future.
So, since the Clippers don't have a ton of draft picks, they could look to trade those two guys by the deadline in order to try to get some first-round picks back.
Then, the Clippers can focus on the development of Keaton Wagner. They can focus on the development of Yanic Konan Niederhauser. They can focus on the development of all of their young players.
What they cannot do is keep thinking about the Leonard situation. That shouldn't be brought up anymore. It's inevitably going to be discussed because of how big of an impact it had, but LA cannot make it a focal point.
The Clippers need to push forward, and that means trying their best to forget about the Leonard situation and just worry about the team that they have now.
