Last November, Serge Ibaka was the signing that arguably saved the Clippers offseason. A year later, the Clippers are once again in need of some saving.
Fortunately, the stakes are lower for the Clippers right now — though a two-game losing streak feels bleak when it includes a franchise-low 26-point second half — because Ibaka isn’t exactly in superhero mode. There’s a reason he stepped away from the team to rehab in the G League for four games: he wasn’t good enough to earn enough minutes for the LA Clippers in his present physical state, and he needed to rectify that.