The Morning Dunk: Clippers' Struggles Continue Since Break

That's another weekend in the books, setting us up for another week of NBA news, highlights, and betting odds with the latest edition of The Morning Dunk.

Sabonis Makes Triple-Double History As Clippers Fall Again

The Los Angeles Clippers have set the bar so high for themselves this season that any stretch of mediocrity sticks out that much more.

The visiting Sacramento Kings defeated the Clippers at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday night, 123-107. The loss was Los Angeles' second in three games since the All-Star break, with the team having literally gone back and forth between wins and losses over its last eight outings.

Domantas Sabonis led the Kings with 17 points, 15 rebounds, and 12 assists for his 20th triple-double of the 2023-24 campaign. He joins Oscar Robertson, Russell Westbrook, Wilt Chamberlain, James Harden, and Nikola Jokic as the only players to ever record 20 triple-doubles in a single season.

Sabonis dunks on Zubac on his way to the W and his 20th triple-double of the season: 17/15/12.

Players with 20+ triple-doubles in a season: Big O, Wilt, Harden, Russ, Jokic and Sabonis pic.twitter.com/prAdX2Pegz
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) February 26, 2024

The Clippers were the narrow 2.5-point favorites and failed to cover the spread for the sixth time in seven games. They're holding onto the fourth seed in the Western Conference with a 37-19 record SU which is 2.5 games behind the first seed.

Jokic Moves Up All-Time Triple-Doubles List

Move aside, King.

Every triple-double for Nikola Jokic feels historic in some way, shape, or form these days, but that rang especially true on Sunday when the Denver Nuggets handled the Golden State Warriors with a 119-103 win at the Chase Center.

Jokic finished with a ridiculous 32 points, 16 rebounds, and 16 assists in 37 minutes of action. That gives him 139 for his career, including the playoffs, moving him past LeBron James for the fourth-most in league history behind Russell Westbrook, Oscar Robertson, and Magic Johnson.

A JOKER MASTERCLASS 🃏

32 PTS | 16 REB | 16 AST | 4 STL pic.twitter.com/ZcLaesDK4P
— NBA (@NBA) February 26, 2024

The two-time Most Valuable Player maintains his stranglehold in the race to be a crowned a three-time winner of the hardware with -155 odds, ahead of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at +220 and Luka Doncic at +700.

LeBron Creeping Up On 40K

It's simply a matter of when LeBron James will record his 40,000th career point, which no other player has ever accomplished before.

James had a game-high 28 points to go along with 12 assists on Sunday, albeit in a 123-113 loss by the Los Angeles Lakers to the Phoenix Suns. He's now 74 points away from 40,000 for his esteemed career.