Lou Williams. Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Former Clippers star has shocking admission about NBA bubble

By Adam Taylor | Last updated 11/14/23

The NBA bubble was put into place during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the NBA's way of ensuring the 2019-20 season reached a conclusion. The Los Angeles Lakers ended up winning a championship. However, it would appear another contender took its "foot off the gas."

When speaking on Trae Young's "From The Point" podcast , Lou Williams revealed the Clippers lost interest in competing for the 2020 championship.

"It was a struggle to get us to the bubble to begin with," Williams said. "We didn't even want to go...I think it was about 97 days that I was in the bubble. I think it was about day 67. I was like, 'let's get the f--- outta here.' I think, mentally we wasn't in it for the long game...We started hearing the rumblings of people weren't going to respect it (the championship), so we took our foot off the gas."

Lou Williams talking about his best chance to win was with the Clippers bubble team. He says, “We started to hear the rumblings that nobody is going to respect this chip so we kind of just took our foot off the gas”

This was our BEST chance man, hurts to hear it pic.twitter.com/lPcmPGvtsk
— Jacob (@Jacobtheclipper) November 13, 2023

Regardless of how the outside world viewed the 2020 championship, it was still an opportunity for the Clippers to hang a banner. Winning is the top goal of every franchise. It doesn't matter how the championships come. The Lakers still hung their banner from 2020.

The Clippers ended up losing to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semis. The following season, they made it to the Western Conference finals, where they lost to the Phoenix Suns in six games.

In 2022, they failed to qualify for the postseason as they dealt with injuries to Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. The Clippers fell in the first round last season, as they re-incorporated their two stars back into the rotation.

The Clippers recently added James Harden to their roster with the hope that he can help lead them to a championship. There may have been more patience from the front office had the Clippers won a ring three years prior.

Choosing to take your foot off the pedal when you're already in the bubble is nonsensical. If you're there, you might as well fight for the prize. Instead, the Clippers have been forced into making win-now decisions. Those types of moves seldom pay immediate dividends.

Williams' admission will likely ruffle some feathers among the Clippers fan base. However, there's nothing they can do other than hope their team breaks out of its slump and gets back to contender status this season.

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