The 2019-20 Clippers season as Avengers: Infinity War

Editor’s Note: It is Marvel Theme Week at SB Nation, so we’re comparing this Clippers season to the plot line of Avengers: Infinity War. If you haven’t yet seen this movie, this will make no sense, and even if you have, please forgive the liberties that have been taken with the plot and the characters. For now, let’s just allow that the Lakers are Thanos and the Clippers are the Avengers.

Entering the 2019-20 season, the greatest villain in the galaxy, the Los Angeles Lakers, has been dormant for years. Rumors of their return have circulated since 2012, but the Lakers have yet to appear in any major battles.

Then at the beginning of Infinity War, the Lakers come into the possession of two Infinity Stones, Anthony Davis and LeBron James. Their power is greater than it has been in eons. The Clippers know it is their destiny to fight off this evil, and they start building up their team.

Kawhi Leonard is the first to come aboard. Alongside the existing duo of Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell, Leonard helps the Clippers win the first battle of the war, staving off the Lakers and protecting the opposition from acquiring another Infinity Stone. Leonard and the other heroes head to the Lakers’ home court preparing for a future fight. Meanwhile, the Lakers go after Paul George on another battlefield in Europe. The remaining Avengers fight off the Children of Thanos, saving yet another Infinity Stone and keeping the enemy at bay for now.

But the Lakers continue to march on their war path, clearing out other planets in the galaxy. They grow stronger and stronger.

The Clippers are undeterred, and they continue to build out their roster. Having lost one of their greatest weapons during the offseason, they head out to a faraway planet to retrieve a new one. Paul George’s best friend Reggie Jackson, who has been wounded and out of action, joins the team too.

The Clippers have collected heroes from far and wide, but they are never on the battlefield together, always separated for one reason or another. They finally manage to get the majority of their squad together in Wakanda for one epic confrontation against the Lakers, but the enemy has become all-powerful, and they fall short.

The last battle causes incomparable devastation, rendering future battles impossible for the time being. The Clippers’ heroes are splintered apart. The season has ended abruptly, with no one sure of what comes next.