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.

And there are the Denver Nuggets, the defending champions, whose stars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray are only 28 and 26, respectively. And back east in Boston, the Celtics, led by 25-year-old Jayson Tatum and 27-year-old Jaylen Brown.

And give the San Antonio Spurs’ 20-year-old sensation Victor Wembanyama a moment and he could be threatening to break down the door too.

But for the moment, for this moment, the team that was for so long an NBA property with so much potential but no hardware to show for it? It seems finally to have its house in order.

With his methodical probing and table-setting to match Leonard’s pace, Harden has averaged 17.3 points and 9.2 assists per game while unlocking something special within this Clippers group, which at one point was skating along on a nine-game winning streak.

By giving him the keys, the Clippers have done something for the oft-disgruntled superstar from L.A., too: Some home cooking, comfort. And not that Harden is one to rush or be rushed, but a reminder: The NBA has a timer set. And it could go off at any moment.

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