Clippers are enjoying a moment – can they capitalize?

LOS ANGELES — When people talk about living in the moment, or for the moment, this is what they mean: It’s January 2024, and the Clippers are having one.

They’ve just inked their leading man, Kawhi Leonard, to a three-year $152.4 million extension, a deal that should give the team the flexibility to also extend co-stars Paul George and James Harden – whose acquisition in November is proving a stroke of brilliance.

It turns out, the Clippers look good with the Beard, as a few of us expected they might.

They’ve built a new arena, a $1.8 billion state-of-the-art basketball palace that, as the team announced with typical fanfare on Tuesday, will open in August, host the NBA All-Star Game in 2026 and then stage Olympic hoops in 2028.

And – oh me, oh my – they’ve built a contender.

Systematically, smartly, the Clippers’ brass has constructed a roster around Leonard and George – the latter of whom scored a season-high 38 points in Tuesday’s 128-117 victory over Oklahoma City – that checks all the important boxes of any first-time championship shopper: They’ve got stars, depth, continuity within their core and with their coach, Tyronn Lue. And throw in camaraderie befitting the situation, too, Lue said: “We thought that was going to be the hard part, sacrificing. They’ve done that. They’ve done a great job.”

Before tipoff Tuesday, Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said he, for one, is sold, rattling off the contender’s many amenities like a realtor showing a high-end listing: “They can score, they have top-end talent, they execute. Well-coached. Defensively, they make you earn it. Good schemes. They’re switchable. Great perimeter defense …”

And what about exposed wood – for knocking? That should be non-negotiable.

Because the Clippers might have lost their first five games with Harden in the lineup, but since then they’ve gone 23-7 – the best record in the NBA since Nov. 17.

In that span, they were outscoring opponents by an average of 7.2 points per game entering Tuesday’s game, shooting an NBA-best 40% from 3-point range, and they ranked in the top 10 in points (118.8), field goal percentage (49.7%), free-throw percentage (82.5%), steals (7.6) and you get the idea – this is, for this franchise, a real moment.

A moment that Lue hopes builds into momentum.

“We’ve got a long ways to go,” said Lue, who knows something about it, having led the Cleveland Cavaliers to three consecutive NBA Finals, including a title in 2016.

“There’s a lot of things we’ve got to do better,” he said. “We have a really talented team and we have some great players that can score at will, score with ease, but we just got to do things a lot better, we’ve got to continue to keep getting better, and I talk to these guys about that.”

Because a moment is but a moment.

Fleeting, potentially. And so they better seize it, because the Clippers’ star trio – sturdy so far this season – are between 32 and 34 years old. Basically, the same ages as the stars on the abruptly washed Golden State Warriors.

So the Clippers’ window is open, but in a minute it could close. In a moment.

Because here comes – er, is – 25-year-old Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. And 21-year-old Chet Holmgren and 22-year-old Jalen Williams and their youthful  Thunder teammates, who were playing their fifth game in seven nights and still gave the Clippers – without starting center Ivica Zubac (calf) – all they could handle Tuesday.

Here is 22-year-old Anthony Edwards and his Minnesota Timberwolves, who just defeated the Clippers, 109-105, on Sunday night and sit atop the Western Conference standings at 28-11.