I'm not sure you can quite put "#1 draft pick breaking his knee cap" in the same category of failure as "owner doesn't have the financial ability to compete".
Incompetent ownership is not the same as doesn't have the financial ability to compete.
Those owners all have the ability to compete - to spend money to field competitive teams but for a variety of reasons (cheapness for some, incompetence for others and the inability to realize they should sign the paychecks and shut up for others) they don't.
The 'dark cloud' over the clippers didn't suddenly appear now did it? This has been a non competetive poorly run franchise for close to 2 decades in a city that if a second consistent winner would probably accept it (or more smartly, if sterling wasn't too lazy to make the drive, move down to anaheim in that shiny arena waiting for a tenant.)
Not sure that '#1 draft pick breaking his knee cap' is the same as a 'dark cloud' over that team...that dark cloud has been there for a long while...