The Clippers have completely revamped their roster, but because of those trades will be very shorthanded in an otherwise gimme game on the road against the miserable Kings.
Game Information
Where: Golden One Center, Sacramento, California
When: 7:00 PM PT
How to Watch: Amazon Prime, AM 570
Projected Starting Lineups
Clippers: Kris Dunn – Kobe Sanders – Kawhi Leonard – John Collins – Brook Lopez
Kings: Russell Westbrook – Zach LaVine – DeMar DeRozan – De’Andre Hunter – Domantas Sabonis
Injuries
Clippers: Darius Garland Out (Toe), Bennedict Mathurin Out (Trade), Isaiah Jackson Out (Trade), Bradley Beal Out (Hip)
Kings: Keegan Murray Out (Ankle), Domantas Sabonis Questionable (Back)
The Big Picture
Well, the Clippers had an eventful trade deadline. I already wrote about the James Harden trade at length, and will write about the Ivica Zubac deal in the next day or day, but for now, their team has been overhauled. Despite clearly shifting to the future with Darius Garland and Bennedict Mathurin, the Clippers still have no incentive to tank, as their pick remains in OKC’s hands. Thus, I’d expect the Clippers to continue to try to win games to some extent and at least make the play-in. I don’t think they’re going to ride Kawhi Leonard hard or anything, but they’re not going to actively try to lose games. This Kings game is one of the easiest games on their schedule in the next month, so I think they’ll go pretty hard to win this one.
The Antagonist
The Kings are really, really bad – the worst team in the Western Conference. Even worse, they were unable to dump almost any of their veterans to get draft picks or get younger – the only guys they traded away were Schroder (signed this summer) and Keon Ellis (foolishly underpaid). DeMar DeRozan, Zach Lavine, Domantas Sabonis, Russell Westbrook, and Malik Monk are all somehow still on this roster. Thus, the Kings are in a weird situation where they have a bunch of vets but need to tank. They’ll probably win a handful of games the rest of the year, but even with a very short-handed roster this is a game the Clippers should win.
Notes
YKN Time: Something a lot of Clippers’ fans will be excited about is that the Zu trade will open up minutes for rookie Yanic Konan Niederhauser. Early reports from Law Murray are that the Clippers intend to start Brook Lopez (yuck) and play YKN as the backup center, with newcomer Isaiah Jackson in a bench role. Honestly, even though I’m not even a huge Yanic fan, I’m not sure why the Clippers shouldn’t start him (maybe after the All-Star Break when he can get more practice reps in) with Jackson as the backup – this iteration of the Clippers is clearly on its last legs, and Brook won’t be a part of any future Clippers’ contender while Yanic and Jackson theoretically could. We will see if Brook as the starter lasts, but I’m not excited for that experience. Hopefully YKN has a good back half of the season and establishes himself alongside Kobe Sanders and Jordan Miller as a rotation player going forward.