We’re a few years removed now from the Lob City era in Los Angeles, and before the coronavirus pandemic put the season on indefinite hiatus, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and company had quickly transformed the revamped Clippers into one of the top contenders in the West.
The central figures of that era have since moved on to new situations around the league, to varying degrees of success. Blake Griffin has spent the last couple of seasons in Detroit while battling various injuries, while DeAndre Jordan has found his way to Brooklyn after brief stints in Dallas and New York.
Chris Paul had a couple of near-misses with title contention alongside James Harden in Houston, but has since gone on to what was a delightful surprise of a season with the Oklahoma City Thunder, who were the No. 5 seed in the West before the shutdown. Still, for Paul, it’s hard not to get nostalgic for those Lob City days.
On a recent appearance on the “All the Smoke” podcast, he remembered his team with the team fondly, particularly his pairing with Griffin.
“It’s seriously one of those things you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone,” Paul said.
“I think about it at times. And me and Blake Griffin absolutely had our issues here and there, but I actually appreciated Blake probably a lot more after I left.”
Paul went on to discuss the NBA’s unprecedented situation with the social-distancing protocols that have put the season in jeopardy, praising commissioner Adam Silver for his communication with players around the league even amid the uncertainty of how things will play out. As president of the players’ union, Paul will likely be at the center of many of the discussions on how to move forward whenever the league is able to resume play.
