The LA Clippers have maintained throughout the season that they are a better team than their record suggests, even when they started the season at a modest 6–21. But after months of work and impressive play on both ends of the court, the Clippers did something no other team has ever done.
The Clippers lost 21 of their first 27 games to start the 2025-26 regular season, which is far from what they expected given the offseason additions they made. But between Bradley Beal's season-ending injury, Kawhi Leonard's ankle injury and Chris Paul's failure, the Clippers were having a lot of work to do to start the season.
All of which made what the Clippers were able to accomplish on Monday night all the more incredible.
LA won 126–118 at home against the New York Knicks, led by Kawhi Leonard's 29 points, seven rebounds and eight assists in 35 minutes of play. The win improved the Clippers' record to 32–32 on the season, bringing their record to .500.
No team in NBA history that started with six or fewer wins in the first 27 games has ever come back to finish the season with a .500 record or reach a .500 record at any time thereafter.
The Clippers are the second team in NBA history to reach .500 after playing 15 or more games under .500 in the same season, joining the 2016–17 Miami Heat. That Heat team started the season 19 games under .500 at 11–30 and finished the season at 41–41.
The only difference is that no team has ever finished over .500 in a single season, which the Clippers can now do on Wednesday night when the Minnesota Timberwolves visit the Intuit Dome for the second time in three weeks.
“It means a lot,” head coach Tyronn Lue said after the Clippers' win over the New York Knicks on Monday night. "Our guys in the locker room stuck with it, kept fighting, kept competing. We thought we should have been better and could have been better. Injuries hurt us, but this team, since I've been here six years, our guys always keep fighting when our backs are against the wall.
"I give credit to our coaching staff they did a great job sticking with it, staying positive, continuing to help these guys get better. Starting 6-21 and getting to .500 right now is huge for us."
The Clippers and Wolves kick off Wednesday night's game at 7:30 PM PST.
