Our exit interview series on the 2026 Clippers continues with Brook Lopez, the backup center that received a promotion to starter mid-season with the Zubac trade.
Basic Information
Height: 7’1
Weight: 282 pounds
Position: Center
Age: 38
Years in NBA: 18
Key Regular Season Stats (for Clippers): 8.5 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.6 steals, and 1.2 blocks in 21.8 minutes per game across 75 games played (40 starts) on 42.8/36/75.7 (4.2 3PA, 1.0 FTA) shooting splits (55.2 True Shooting)
Expectations
The biggest name the Clippers added last summer was Bradley Beal, the most nostalgic addition was Chris Paul, and the highest upside new face was John Collins, but the new player a lot of Clippers’ fans were most excited about was Brook Lopez. The Clippers had cycled through a seemingly endless series of awful, bad, or at best mediocre big men since letting Isaiah Hartenstein walk in the summer of 2022, a move that haunted the Clippers for years. Brook promised to change that. A starter for almost his entire career, Brook was coming off a pretty good season for the Bucks as the third-best player on a solid playoff team. Thus, it seemed quite reasonable that with a smaller role off the bench for the Clippers behind Ivica Zubac, Brook could be a highly productive backup center contributing three-point shooting on offense and excellent rim protection on defense while still being a functional starter if Zu ever missed time.
Reality
Expectations were raised when Brook was reportedly the best player on the court for much of training camp and then played very well in preseason. Brook looked just like he did for his Bucks tenure, and his ability to score in the post, shoot from deep at high volume, and defend the paint seemed like a great fit for what the Clippers needed.
Unfortunately, Brook was a big factor in the Clippers’ early season woes. Much like Chris Paul, all of his energy and mojo from the preseason did not carry over to when the games actually mattered. Brook looked unbelievably slow, with his inability to get up and down the court playing a large role in the Clippers’ transition defense being a disaster. On offense, Brook was cold from three at the very start of the year, and even as he started heating up, he wasn’t taking enough threes to really punish defenses. Things got so bad that when the Clippers were in the middle of their worst stretch of the season, Brook was benched for six games, from November 25 to December 5. He then played a few minutes in two more games before another DNP-CD.
Brook’s season, and the Clippers’, changed on December 20, when Ivica Zubac left a game against the Lakers due to injury. Brook stepped up in a major way, playing his most minutes (24:52) of the season to beat the Lakers and break a five-game losing streak. Brook moved into the starting unit as Zu missed the next six games, and the Clippers, for the first time all season, found some rhythm, winning all five of Brook’s first starts. As silly as it was, there was some controversy about the starting spot, with certain fands wondering if Brook’s outside shooting opened up the offense enough to warrant him starting over Zu. That did not happen, and after one more start, Brook moved back to the bench when Zu returned in early January.
January was a good month for the Clippers, but Brook’s numbers were quite dreadful, averaging 4.9 points on horrendous 30.1/22.9 shooting splits. His defense was impactful, but the offense lagging meant a lot of minutes for Ivica Zubac. When Zu was traded before the deadline, Brook was moved into the starting unit. There were points when the rookie Yanic Konan Niederhauser seemed to be overtaking him, but then Yanic was ruled out for the rest of the season, and Brook played huge minutes the rest of the way. Ultimately, Brook was fine the last third of the season in the starting role, with his numbers more less looking similar to those in his last couple of seasons in Milwaukee.
Brook, unfortunately, was a good example of stats not matching the eye test. When you look at his per 36 numbers, his stats from this season are actually very much in line with his later Milwaukee seasons from a pure production standpoint. However, actually watching Brook play this year was painstaking (at least for me). Him probably being the single slowest player in the NBA was torturous to see in regards to loose balls, rebounds, and transition play. There were games where he hit threes or cooked in the low post, and his defense in the paint was pretty good the last half of the season. Objectively, he was a fine rotation center. But the two-point shooting and mobility falling off a cliff was a real reason the Clippers disappointed this year, even if Brook was able to salvage his season down the stretch.
Future with Clippers
The Clippers have a team option for Brook at a little under $9.2M. Quite honestly, I have no idea whether they’ll pick it up or not. Brook was *ok* for most of the year as a backup center, and that’s not a horrible overpay for a reliable backup big man. He’s also a beloved teammate and locker room presence that the Clippers could use as they continue moving towards a younger roster. On the other hand, he’s really old and having slipped quite significantly already from the prior season, it’s very possible he’s truly unplayable next season if he loses another half-step. The Clippers will be waiting for youngster Yanic Konan Niederhauser to recover from Lisfranc surgery (he probably won’t be ready until a couple months into the season), so they’ll be short at big man if they decline Brook’s option and move on. I would rather the Clippers moved on from Brook, but I think there’s a decent chance he’s back on the team next year. If so, hopefully he’s in a much smaller role than he was this past year.