Los Angeles Clippers:
This is a rare occasion where an entire squad has a legacy that is slowly bleeding out. The Clippers have been a great team for the past 5+ years, but no championship and especially no conference finals hurts their reputation. When the Clippers went from Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell, Patrick Beverly, Gallinari, to Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Marcus Morris, the stakes immediately grew larger for them. Injuries happen, but they can't be excuses at this point. They are the worst part of sports, but they can't be used as excuses anymore when necessary. Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and the rest of their squad has what it takes to get to the finals. Get it done and if they don't, then they'll be remembered as one of the teams that never lived up to their hype.
James Harden:
James is a generational player. He has all of the accolades he needs to get, all he needs now is a championship to make his reputation even greater. He's running out of time and he's running out of excuses. For the past 2 years, it has been rumored that James' year with Brooklyn was tarnished because of his injury in their losing series, and apparently he was still recovering from the injury last season with the 76ers. He made a joke that he lost 100 pounds, which definitely is a good joke and a good use of clickbait, but he has the team he needs to get to a championship and he' got to make it happen.
We'll see if either of these two live up to their hype and earn a championship.
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