Nothing is going right for the Los Angeles Clippers as they lost 114-110 to the 5-15 Dallas Mavericks last night. It marked their fourth straight defeat and seventh in eight games, a slide that’s rapidly dimming their playoff hopes. Understandably, the frustration is mounting. James Harden, unwilling to watch the season slip away, delivered some pointed words to his teammates as the team searched for answers.

When asked about how he feels about integrating players that the franchise did not expect to rely this heavily on, especially early into the season, Harden gave a single-word response. “Challenging.” And when Clippers reporter Joey Linn tried to press James into giving a more elaborate answer to his question, the veteran superstar gave away how hard it is for the Clippers now.

“I don’t know. I don’t know. The situation here is difficult. Like, we’re not making shots offensively, defensively, game plan mistakes happen too many times. This is one of the reasons why we’re losing games.” James Harden further said. Clear message to the front office?

Not just poor form, but the Clippers have been hard hit with injuries, too.

Kawhi Leonard has missed time, then new acquisition Bradley Beal is out for the rest of the season with a hip injury, and even Derrick Jones Jr. is on the sidelines alongside a few others. So, for most of the season so far, James Harden has had to play with rotational players, who have massively failed in supporting him, and he wants things to change now.

Even last night, the Beard finished the game with 29 points, 11 assists, and 8 rebounds. However, apart from Kawhi Leonard, who put up 30 points and grabbed 8 rebounds, no one really lent a hand to Harden. This has ultimately been the story of almost every Clippers defeat this season, and there have been plenty. So much so that it has forced the team’s head coach to make a concerning admission.

Tyronn Lue seems to have given up on the Clippers’ season

In the past few pressers, LA Clippers’ head coach Tyronn Lue has been quite upfront with the media. This comes as a result of the franchise’s dreadful start to the season after being tipped as contenders during the summer. It seems this poor run has forced the team’s head coach to finally raise the white flag and call it a day.

“I know we’ve had some tough circumstances in the last five years, which is six years, but I have been able to figure it out. But this year, it’s been tough. Our injuries really hurt us. It just put us in a funk that we couldn’t get out,” Lue said after his team’s most recent defeat against an injury-riddled Dallas team without Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, and several other key players.

While he did give James Harden and Ivica Zubac their flowers, given that they’ve been probably the only couple of bright spots on this roster, overall, he seemed upset with how things have turned out for him and his team. In fact, he even confirmed his feelings later on.

“I’m just really pissed off more than frustrated because it happens every year, and it’s just tough to try to continue getting through it,” Lue expressed. It seems the head coach has had enough of the team being hyped up and then underperforming.

Well, while it’s true that a lot has to do with their unfortunate luck with injuries, that’s not the only factor that caused this mess. As Harden emphasized, there is a lack of support around the team’s star players. And this is because of poor roster construction. After all, over the summer, the Clippers stacked themselves with veteran players one after the other.

This, of course, included injury-prone players such as Bradley Beal, who now left a void to fill. So, as much as injuries are to be blamed, the front office is also equally liable. Now, whether James Harden and Kawhi Leonard can somehow drag this team into the playoffs or not? It will be something everyone would be interested in seeing in the coming weeks.