Shifting to a new arena, revamping their team logo, and launching fresh jersey designs, Steve Ballmer is going all out this summer in his attempt to end the Clippers’ curse. However, with the way their free agency has gone so far, all of Ballmer’s efforts might go to waste once again. The first blow came when the Clippers lost Paul George to the Sixers. And just as they were dealing with that loss, former MVP Russell Westbrook also escaped their camp, leading to ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins accusing the Clippers of shooting themselves in the foot.

Although Russ had picked up his $4 million player option for next season with the Clippers before the deadline, he was not expected to play for them anymore. Sure enough, President Lawrence Frank finalized a trade earlier today to send Westbrook to the Utah Jazz along with a future second-round pick swap, draft rights to Balsa Koprivica, and some cash, in exchange for guard Kris Dunn.

Addressing the Clippers’ off-season moves so far following the Westbrook trade, former champ, Kendrick Perkins was not happy with how things have played out in LA, “Look, I don’t know if the Clippers know what they’re doing right now”.

Perkins then moved on with his criticism by accusing Lawrence Frank of ruining the team’s future with his front office decisions, “Lawrence Frank has done a horrible job for as being the General Manager and leading the front office of this team.” Letting a talent like Paul George leave in free agency without getting any assets in return when just five years ago, the Clippers gave up a future superstar in SGA and multiple first-round draft picks to get PG, shows their poor decision-making.

Moreover, Perk believes that with Westbrook gone, the Clippers are now stuck with two unreliable superstars in James Harden and Kawhi Leonard, which leaves them nowhere close to contending for a title next season.

Should the Clippers trade Kawhi Leonard for a fresh start?

Another mistake that the Clippers might have made in letting Westbrook leave is increasing their competition for next season. Why? Because Russ is expected to agree on a contract buyout with the Jazz, which will leave the door open for him to join the Denver Nuggets as the two parties have shared a mutual interest in each other for quite some time.

Meanwhile, every other contending team in the league has upgraded their roster, leaving the Clippers as the only team who might have massively downgraded.

With the dream of winning their first title looks even more bleak now, Perkins suggested Frank should consider the option of parting ways with Kawhi Leonard initiating a complete reset, “They really need to consider trading Kawhi Leonard, not because he still can’t be productive, but with this squad and this roster that they have around him, they are not threats to winning a Championship. They’re not even threats to making any noise in the Western Conference.”

Although highly productive on the court, availability is a major concern with Kawhi. Leonard missing 4 out of 6 playoff games against Dallas because of his knee injuries was the primary reason why the Clippers got eliminated right in the first round itself. Adding fuel to the fire was James Harden with his history of underperforming in high-pressure situations like these. The duo, overall, is highly unreliable.

In this case, it might be best for Ballmer and his executives to collect some significant assets in exchange for Kawhi and Harden while they can and not let them leave in the future for nothing, as they did with PG.