With his condition already so bad, the Clippers still dare to let him serve as the team s starting power forward?

In the previous NBA regular season, the Phoenix Suns, playing at home, successfully defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 115-102. After this game, the Suns' record improved to 4 wins and 5 losses, and their ranking was overtaken by the Clippers and many teams to rank 9th in the Western Conference; while the Clippers, who had suffered three consecutive losses, had a record of 3 wins and 5 losses, and their ranking was surpassed by many teams and fell to 12th in the Western Conference.

In this game, the Clippers' starting forward Nicolas Batum continued his poor form in recent times, and his performance was still appalling. Batum played 18 minutes and 24 seconds, making 0 of 3 shots and 0 of 3 from beyond the three-point line. Once again, he did not score a point in the game. He only contributed 2 rebounds and 1 assist. He also had 1 foul and a plus-minus value of -14. Batum's performance on the offensive end was still terrible. He got some outside shooting opportunities, but he still had no touch and did nothing. Moreover, his performance on the defensive end was also very bad, and he also failed to achieve this effect. Overall, Batum's performance was once again extremely disappointing. However, he still got a lot of playing time and performance opportunities under such circumstances, which seemed very speechless, and to a certain extent, led to the team's final defeat.

In the NBA regular season last season, Batum played a total of 78 times in 82 games, averaging 17.5 minutes per game. He averaged 4 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game. He also had 0.4 turnovers and 1.4 fouls. He shot 43.7% from the field, 43.3% from the three-point range, and 81% from the free throw line. During the playoffs, Batum played a total of 7 times, averaging 24.6 minutes per game, 5.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2 assists, 0.9 steals, and 1.7 blocks per game. He also had 0.4 turnovers and 1.9 fouls. He shot 39.4% from the field and 39.4% from the three-point range. Since the start of this season, Batum has averaged 14.6 minutes per game in the first 9 games, averaging 2.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.6 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game. He also has 0.4 turnovers and 1.8 fouls. His shooting percentage is 24% and his three-point shooting percentage is 26.1%.

Although Batum performed very well last season, he also played a key role in the playoffs, and his effect on the defensive end was also quite good. However, the problem is that since the start of this season, his condition has not improved significantly, and his decline in both offense and defense is also visible to the naked eye. As a result, under this situation, Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue still chose to give him a lot of playing time and performance opportunities, and even gave him the right to start in the absence of Kawhi Leonard. This is really outrageous. The effect on the court is obviously a mess, why do the Clippers insist on giving him such a chance to perform?