Most players on the 35-17 LA Clippers are living their best lives right now, but that is unfortunately not true of two guys on the end of their bench.
Shams Charania of The Athletic reported Wednesday that the Clippers have also decided to send third-year guard Bones Hyland home early ahead of the All-Star break. The news comes after word broke earlier in the day that the Clippers were sending veteran forward PJ Tucker home early as well.
For Tucker, 38, his early dismissal comes amid months of open frustration about being out of the Clippers’ rotation. The situation is a little bit different though for Hyland, 23. He is not in the rotation either and has not seen non-garbage time minutes since around the time of the James Harden trade in early November. But Law Murray of The Athletic reports that Hyland has “no issues” with his teammates. Instead, the Clippers have asked Hyland to do certain things to stay ready, and it appears those expectations have not been met, Murray adds.
Hyland, who did have issues with his teammates during his previous stint on the Denver Nuggets, was acquired by the Clippers at last season’s trade deadline. He was expected to be a longer-term building block for L.A. with his speed and halfcourt shot-creating ability. Though that could still be the case down the line, Hyland’s development is in the toilet right now, thanks in large part to the lack of room for him in the rotation. Hyland hasn’t even played at all since the end of January after looking like a complete sinkhole offensively in the garbage-time minutes that he was getting.
The Clippers will enter the second half of the season with a legitimate chance at earning the No. 1 seed for the very first time in franchise history. But it sounds like they have some festering issues to figure out with both Tucker and Hyland that could threaten to torpedo things from the inside.
