A Clippers Rebrand, an NFL Mini-Mailbag, and Best MLB Story Lines With Rob Mahoney, Anthony Dabbundo, and Billy Gil

The Bill Simmons Podcast episode opens with a grim diagnosis of the Los Angeles Clippers. After the team’s front office was suspended for a year and stripped of five first-round draft picks for illegal recruiting and tampering, Simmons and Rob Mahoney argue that the franchise has hit a point of no return. The Clippers have no retired numbers, have never made the NBA Finals, and have just traded Kawhi Leonard to Toronto for two unprotected first-round picks—a haul Simmons calls a “miracle” given Leonard’s injury history and the damage he has done to multiple organizations. The core question is whether a rebrand, perhaps to “Hollywood Knights,” could cleanse the stench. Mahoney notes that NBA rebrands rarely work, but the Clippers have no history to protect. The real problem is that the team is now stuck with Darius Garland and Brandon Ingram making a combined $82 million for the next two years, a duo Mahoney ranks in the bottom third of the league’s best two-man combos. The only hope is rookie Keaton Wagler, but if he busts, the franchise faces a bleak future with no picks and no free-agent appeal.

The NFL Mini-Mailbag: Overreactions and a New Studio Star