There is no N.B.A. equivalent of the Chicago Cubs’ curse. But there must be an aggrieved goat somewhere in the Los Angeles Clippers’ dark past. Consider the way their week started:

¶On Sunday, they learned that power forward Zach Randolph, their leading scorer, might miss two weeks because of a bruised knee.

¶On Monday, they awoke to reports that Baron Davis, their star point guard, wants to return to the Golden State Warriors. “He wants to come back,” Stephen Jackson, a Warriors forward and close friend of Davis, told The San Jose Mercury News.

¶On Monday afternoon, they learned that Ricky Davis, their reserve swingman, had been suspended for five games for violating the N.B.A.’s drug program.

And on a side note, the Clippers lost 21 of first 29 games this season.

For the Clippers  a franchise with just two winning seasons in the last 30 years  misery is almost expected. It seems to be embedded in the team’s DNA. But this season was supposed to be different.