ESPN Tabs Clippers As New Big Four, Comes To Astute Conclusion They Will Either Win The NBA Finals Or Won't
The Los Angeles Clippers have not won a game since acquiring James Harden. Despite going 0-5 since Harden's arrival - which can quite literally only be looked at as a negative at this point - ESPN has still given the Clippers as the new 'big four' in the NBA.
On paper, sure, Russell Westbrook, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Harden is quite a collection of names.
But anyone who paid any attention to the NBA over the last decade would come to that conclusion themselves. For some reason, ESPN felt the need to deliver the new 'big four' nickname to the bunch. It's as if the four-letter network didn't publish its story titled 'James Harden and the Clippers join list of NBA Big Fours' then nobody would have come to that conclusion on their own.
The only thing interesting about ESPN's wildly obvious story is the timing of it.
The James Harden era with the Clippers' new 'big four' has been nothing short of a disaster. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
Harden made his debut for the Clippers on November 6, yet ESPN's piece acknowledging the new four-headed 'monster' in LA was published 10 days later on the 16th.
It almost feels like the network was waiting to publish the story after Harden's first win with the Clips, but after an 0-5 start to his tenure, ESPN couldn't wait any longer given the experiment in Los Angeles has already crashed off the rails.
The story takes a look at other big four teams that have been formed during the history of the league. Some of those teams won championships, while others didn't. That fact seems pretty obvious, but ESPN made sure to put that fact in writing for anyone unaware of how team sports work.
"History says the Clippers and Celtics' Big Four can either emerge victorious with a championship or end without one," the story written by Anthony Gharib states.
Earth-shattering stuff.
Unless Harden all of a sudden becomes a mature adult and the group of four who all want the ball in their hands suddenly become distributors, I'm going to go out on a limb and say the Clippers will not be hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy this season.