Clippers Have a Darius Garland Problem

Despite playing Minnesota without Anthony Edwards, Golden State without Steph Curry, and the Lakers without Luka Doncic over the last week, the LA Clippers have lost these games by a combined 54 points. They have been one of the worst teams in the league.

If we take away their season-opening win against the hopeless Sacramento Kings, the Clippers have a miserable -13.4 net rating, ranking 28th on offense and 26th on defense, per Cleaning the Glass.

Of course, injuries have played a large part in this. Once Brandon Ingram, Bradley Beal, Yanic Konan Niederhauser, and Max Strus return, things will start to look much better for the Clippers.

But there is still a big problem that is impossible to ignore. Darius Garland has simply not been anywhere near where he needs to be for this team to have a shot at being competitive.

Darius Garland Has Been One of the Most Disappointing Players in the NBA

It's important to note that Garland has a nearly impossible task. He has very little shot creation and playmaking around him. He has to face the opposing team's best defenders night in and night out and doesn't have a secondary or a tertiary offensive option he can rely on.

Yet, he still has to be way better.

Garland is averaging 5.2 turnovers per game. He leads the league in turnovers per 36 minutes. His efficiency has also gone down significantly. Last season with the Clippers, he had 60.2% True Shooting. Through six games, he is at 56%.

When Garland is on the court, the Clippers have a 106.2 offensive rating, per Cleaning the Glass. This would rank in the bottom five in the league. For a player whose entire value to the team comes on the offensive side of the ball, this isn't good enough.

Defensively, things look even bleaker. The Clippers defense gets lit up whenever Garland is out there. LA is a whopping 29.6 points per 100 possessions worse with him on the floor than when he is off. This is the worst defensive on/off rating in the league, according to Cleaning the Glass.

This is especially concerning because it can't be blamed on the lack of talent around Garland. If anything, the Clippers have decent defensive options around Garland, with Kris Dunn and Derrick Jones Jr. It's not like Garland has to guard some elite offensive players on a nightly basis. The Clippers haven't even played a great offensive team yet.

In the last five games, the Clippers have been outscored by 83 points in Garland's minutes. Considering that the 26-year-old point guard is supposed to be this team's best player, this is a massive problem. If you are getting destroyed whenever your star player is on the court, you have no chance of surviving in this league.

Garland has always struggled against physicality. He doesn't have the physical and athletic tools to produce consistently against elite defensive units. Against the likes of the Lakers and the Warriors, however, Garland's ineffectiveness is unacceptable. Combine that with his defensive issues, and it's hard to argue against Garland being one of the most disappointing players to start the season.