Lakers Schedule Just Got Much More Difficult Following James Harden Trade To Clippers

The path to a title is even harder than we thought.

Now that the Los Angeles Clippers have picked up future first-ballot Hall of Fame guard James Harden, this means quite a lot for your Los Angeles Lakers, who play in the Pacific Division alongside their newly-improved LA foe. 

Due to their divisional alignment, the Lakers and Clippers square off four times throughout the 2023-24 regular season. The first matchup is this Wednesday, November 1st, followed by contests on January 7th, January 23rd, and February 28th. 

Given the Clippers' injury history prior to this trade, it was safe to expect that for at least a couple of the matchups, one or both of superstars Paul George and Kawhi Leonard would sit out.

As a result, it was fair to assume the Lakers to have a legitimate-to-good chance of coming away with wins, despite their struggles against the Clippers over the past few seasons. 

In fact, the Lakers haven't beaten the Clippers in the regular season since the Bubble – over 3 years ago. And, somehow, since the 2014-2015 season, the Clips post a 29-6 record against the Lakers. That's bad. 

This record is only bound to get worse with another capable scorer, ball-handler, and elite playmaker in the mix. 

The Lakers are likely to have to square off with a formidable squad in all four of their matchups this season, as it seems as though the Clippers' notable players are prepared to play this Wednesday, in their first matchup. 

With razor-thin margins in the Western Conference, expect these four games to be major red marks on the Lakers schedule, as losing all four would be detrimental for their playoff hopes given them ceding 4 wins to another playoff-likely team, but also recording four losses in a conference that may require 44+ wins to even make the play-in tournament this spring. 

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UPDATE:

James Harden is not playing on Wednesday in the first battle of LA this season, but P.J. Tucker is hoping to suit up. More details here.