If the Los Angeles Clippers drop Game 2 to the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night at Staples Center and fall into an ominous 0-2 series deficit, fans will sound the alarm, and argue that another playoff collapse is brewing.
Of course, the fourth-seeded Clippers still have a solid chance to regain momentum and split their opening home games before traveling down to Texas for Games 3 and 4. But what happens if they do flirt with disaster, and ultimately exit the playoffs early again? Could a roster breakup follow?
USA Today reporter Jeff Zillgitt joined the Reiter Than You show on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of the Clippers being forced to retool this offseason.
"You can keep cycling through coaches, but they just brought in Tyronn Lue, so I doubt that's going to happen," Zillgitt said. "Do you start to look to break that up and does that mean looking to do something with Paul George? Now, Kawhi [Leonard] can opt out and become a free agent, and I think that's something to really watch... The Clippers don't have a choice necessarily in trading Kawhi Leonard. But do they look to break up that team somehow? That would probably depend on what they would get in the haul in return. It would probably alter their championship aspirations for the next couple of years. If Paul George and Kawhi can't get out of the first round this season, you do have to look at it.
"The other alternative I have here: could you chalk it up to the strangeness of the two back-to-back seasons? What happened last year, the hiatus, resuming in a bubble, playing in a bubble, and then the oddity of this year with restrictions on what players were allowed to do? As I've mentioned before, the lack of practice, games seemingly every other day, including some back-to-backs. Do you say, 'Boy, this was just an odd season. Let's sort of reset and see what happens next year if we can get Kawhi to come back again.' And that does remain a possibility. Because I think there are lots of teams that've had a hard time judging what they've done this season, based on how weird the season has been."
Leonard, who's in the second year of a three-year, $103 million contract that includes a $36 million player option for the 2021-22 season, led the Clippers in points per game (24.8), steals (1.6), and minutes (34.1) during the regular season. The expectation is that the 29-year-old California native will opt out this summer and sign a new free agent deal with the team.
The Clippers, which entered the playoffs with a league-high 43-percent chance to reach the NBA Finals, according to FiveThirtyEight's projections, lost Game 1 against the fifth-seeded Mavs, 113-103, on Saturday night.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will take place on Tuesday, with tipoff scheduled for 10:30 p.m. ET.
The entire NBA conversation between Zillgitt and Reiter can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow the Reiter Than You show on Twitter @sportsreiter and @CBSSportsRadio, and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin