Clippers complete historic comeback, earn play-in showdown with Warriors
From 6-21 to 42-40, the Clippers did what no NBA team had done before. Now Stephen Curry and the Warriors stand between them and the playoffs.
The Clippers turned a season that looked broken in December into a one-game path to the postseason, and they did it by making history along the way. Los Angeles finished 42-40 after a 6-21 start, became the first NBA team to climb above .500 after falling 15 games below it in the same season, and carried that recovery into a play-in meeting with the Golden State Warriors at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif.
That turnaround was not a simple surge. It was a survival act through injuries, roster upheaval and a franchise clouded by an NBA investigation into whether it circumvented the salary cap through an endorsement arrangement tied to Kawhi Leonard and Aspiration. The probe began in September 2025 and is being led by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Steve Ballmer and Leonard have denied the allegations, and the Clippers have said they welcome the investigation.
On the floor, the roster kept changing. Bradley Beal was sidelined by a season-ending fracture. Chris Paul was sent home after a December road trip. James Harden was traded away at the deadline. Each move forced Tyronn Lue to rebuild the rotation on the fly, with Leonard carrying a larger share of the scoring load than anyone expected when the team opened 6-21.
Leonard’s numbers explain why the season did not collapse outright. He led the Clippers in scoring at 27.9 points per game, and also paced the team in rebounds at 6.4 and assists at 3.6. That level of production gave the Clippers a floor while everything around him shifted, and it helped turn a lost season into a fight that lasted through April.
The defining moment came March 11, when the Clippers beat Minnesota and moved above .500 after falling 15 games below it earlier in the year. No team in league history had ever done that before. They then finished the regular season by beating Golden State 115-110 on April 12, a game in which Stephen Curry scored 24 points, and that result only sharpened the stakes for the rematch.
Now the Clippers and Warriors meet again, with the winner advancing and the loser going home. Golden State finished 37-45, and Steve Kerr called the Clippers’ comeback “pretty remarkable.” Los Angeles’ 15th straight winning season remains the NBA’s longest active streak and the fourth-longest in league history. The record says recovery; the matchup will show whether it also means danger.
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