While Los Angeles Clippers fans desperately wait for their team to turn their season around, it keeps getting worse and worse. In a season full of embarrassing losses, the Clippers may have hit a new low on Monday, Against the Miami Heat, the Clippers went down by 38 points in early third quarter before pulling the plug and sitting the starters in most of the second half. The Clippers had a miserable 140.0 defensive rating in the competitive portion of the game, per Cleaning the Glass, and allowed a whopping 169.6 points per 100 transition possessions.
The leading scorer and best player on the court for the Heat for long stretches of the game was a familiar face: Norman Powell. The former Clippers shooting guard made the most of his revenge opportunity, scoring 30 points on 12/18 shooting from the field in 32 minutes. The Heat won his minutes by 33 points. In contrast, John Collins, who the Clippers acquired in return for Powell in the offseason, had 10 points and six rebounds on 4/12 shooting in 25 minutes.
While there are plenty of different factors for the Clippers’ woes, trading Powell after he just had a career season in LA ranks near the top. Among a slew of disastrous offseason decisions by the front office, willingly giving Powell up has to be the worst one.
Trading Norman Powell Continues to Haunt the Clippers
The 32-year-old who is averaging a career-high 25 points per game for the Heat this season, addressed his former team’s 5-16 start after the game. Saying that he would have never guessed that the Clippers would be 5-16 right now, Powell added, “that’s something for them to have to deal with and handle. I’m not worried about them anymore,” per Joey Linn of Clippers on SI.
Norman Powell on the Clippers:
“I would have never guessed they were gonna be 5-16 and where they’re at right now. That’s something for them to have to deal with and handle. I’m not worried about them anymore.”
— Joey Linn (@joeylinn_) December 2, 2025
Powell could have easily added a few words about how he thinks the Clippers will be fine and they will figure things out. The fact that he didn’t speaks volumes about how he feels about the franchise. What is also telling is that he didn’t mention anything about his time with the team or how there are no hard feelings. Instead, he is implying that he has moved on and isn’t thinking about the Clippers by saying he isn’t worried about them anymore.
Whether holding onto Powell would have made enough of a difference for the Clippers is unclear, but the veteran scorer has clearly made a big impact in Miami. He has found greener pastures playing under Erik Spoelstra, playing a big role in the Heat’s surprise 14-7 start. He is currently leading the team in scoring and has impressive 50.9/45.8/88.3 shooting splits for his most efficient season yet.
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