Ty Lue's Clippers Future Addressed by Lawrence Frank After NBA Play-In Loss to Warriors

Despite the Los Angeles Clippers' turbulent 2025-26 season, head coach Tyronn Lue was never at risk of losing his job.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said the team "never, ever" considered firing Lue amid a 6-21 start to the season.

"Even at our lowest point, when we were 6-21, there never ever was any consideration of Ty not being the coach," Frank said. "Ty's going to be the coach here for a long, long time. And I think when you talk about partnerships, and you talk about stable organizations, when you have adversity or you go through tough stretches, you dig in and you work really, really hard at identifying the problems. Everyone takes ownership of the issues."

His last deal was signed in May 2024 and averaged around $14 million annually.

Lue's seat was getting warm early into the 2025-26 season. The Clippers started 6-21 as their Expendables-esque approach to the roster backfired in spectacular fashion.

Bradley Beal suffered a season-ending hip injury in November. Chris Paul appeared in 16 games before getting excommunicated. James Harden got dealt ahead of the February trade deadline.

However, Los Angeles still managed to win 42 games and earn a play-in berth before losing to the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday.

"I thought Ty and the staff did an unbelievable job of, every day, showing up with a great spirit, and just kept at it," Frank added. "Ty's an incredible coach, an incredible partner. And one of the characteristics we look for, not just in staff, but also in players, are people who are driven to improve. And all of us, you know, are very much driven to improvement."

When things were at a nadir, Lue set the goal of going 35-20 the rest of the way. Incredibly, the team was slightly ahead of schedule.

In terms of the bigger picture, one knock against Lue is that he hasn't gotten the Clippers past the first round since the 2021 playoffs. That's not totally his fault as injuries to Kawhi Leonard and/or Paul George often doomed the franchise's championship quest.

As L.A. continually came up short, the general narrative was that Lue wrung the most he could out of what became limited squads, rather than that the team was just a good coach away from getting over the hump.

The organization may soon pivot in a very different direction. Leonard is only signed for one more year, and the front office can totally remake the roster starting in 2027, when Darius Garland and Isaiah Jackson are the only players with guaranteed deals.

The Clippers clearly believe Lue is the right guy to lead them forward.