Lowe: The Clippers, the Nuggets and the convenient fear of the second apron – ESPN

Now that the dust has (mostly) settled after another wild NBA free agency, it’s time to take stock of who won, who lost and where the league is now.
Jump to Lowe’s biggest free agency winners, losers and takeaways:
The Clips’ failure | Denver’s fear
Orlando’s build | OKC winning … everywhere
The Sixers’ Big Three | Boston running it back
Houston, chilling | Cleveland quieting the noise
The Spurs landing a Point God

There is a difference between failure and regret, though one can lead to the other. The Paul George–Kawhi Leonard era was a failure. Sure, it means something that a superstar chose Los Angeles’ “other” team — luring another superstar to come with him — and that they led the Clippers to their first conference finals in franchise history. Leonard and George cemented the Clippers’ relevance, bridging the gap between Lob City and the Intuit Dome.
But winning three playoff series in five seasons — none since that 2021 conference finals run — is a shocking failure. Leonard has not finished a season healthy since the Clippers’ catastrophic choke job in the Orlando, Florida, bubble in 2020.
They could never sustain chemistry — the ineffable rhythm of a team fully comfortable in its own skin. They appeared to catch it after acclimating to James Harden, only to lose hold of it — lurching around .500 after the All-Star break and limping out in the first round again. Now, it’s over.
It will hurt watching Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams (taken with one of the picks LA traded) lead the Oklahoma City Thunder on a prolonged run at the top, but pain is not regret either. The Clippers knew the risks when they traded everything. Rival executives did, too, and almost all of them agreed — some begrudgingly, some with head-nodding excitement — that they would have made the same deal under the same pressure. You stockpile assets for the chance to land the reigning Finals MVP and the guy who had just finished third in MVP voting — both in their primes.
In their statement explaining George’s departure, the Clippers cited the new second apron and the attached team-building restrictions. That could not have been the entire reason for drawing a line in the sand at granting George a fourth year on his deal — something the Philadelphia 76ers did without hesitation.
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