"Guys Are All Over The Place": James Harden Comments On Clippers' Dreadful Start
Nov 12, 2025
Between new acquisitions and the Kawhi Leonard controversy, the Los Angeles Clippers had an interesting offseason, to say the least. The problem is, their actual performance in the regular season has not been worthy of headlines in the basketball world.
The Clippers have won just three of their first 10 games, and they have an urgent need to discover their identity before their downward spiral worsens. For Clippers star James Harden, stabilizing the roster is the team’s top priority at this point.
“We haven’t had any consistency, for real,” Harden told reporters at a recent media availability. “We’ve had so many different lineups, so many guys in and out of the rotation…Guys are all over the place.”
To Harden’s point, the Clippers have already fielded five different starting lineups since the season began. In two of the team’s three wins, they started with Harden and Bradley Beal in the backcourt, along with Leonard, Derrick Jones, and Ivica Zubac in the frontcourt.
A right ankle sprain, however, has sidelined Leonard in the Clippers’ last four outings; this injury is also expected to keep him on the shelf for at least two more games. Meanwhile, neither Jones nor Zubac has missed a single contest to date. The frontcourt situation, then, validates Harden’s point about the inconsistency of player availability.
“Some guys haven’t played in ever. Some guys are just put in the rotation. Some guys are new here. It’s a lot that goes into it,” Harden admitted.
While John Collins has played well off the bench, putting up 12.9 points and 5.1 rebounds per game, his fellow newcomer Brook Lopez (7.2 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 15.9 mpg) has yet to find his groove. As for returning Clipper Chris Paul, his spot minutes and limited contributions have barely made an impact.
Harden, who missed the Clippers’ showdown against the Phoenix Suns last Thursday due to personal reasons, is doing all he can for the squad, averaging 23.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 9.3 assists per outing. The former MVP, of course, is far removed from his prime, and it will take a collective effort from the rest of the Clippers’ roster to lift their record to respectable levels.
