Our player preview series on the 2027 Clippers continues with starting power forward Rui Hachimura.

Basic Information

Height: 6’8

Weight: 230 pounds

Position: Power Forward

Age: 28

Years in NBA: 7

Stats: 11.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 0.8 assists, and 0.6 steals in 28.3 minutes per game across 68 games played (41 starts) on 51.4/44.3/69.4 shooting splits (3.9 3PA, 1.1 FTA) with 62% TS

Contract Status: Signed to a two-year, $28M deal, making $14M this season

Expectations

Rui has some of the clearest expectations on the team. Signed to the mid-level exception (more or less) in the offseason, he was brought in to start at power forward for the Clippers (or maybe be the 6^th man in certain configurations) and fill their glaring hole at that position. On the court, he will be asked to nail spot-up threes, cook a bit in the midrange, and bolster bench units with some additional scoring punch. I’ve seen some fans project a breakout season for Rui, and I’d be shocked if it happened – he will turn 29 during the season, he’s played in the NBA for seven seasons, and has logged well over 11K minutes in the league; we know what he is at this point, and that’s a solid rotation player.

Strengths

Rui is an absolute deadeye shooter from three-point range. Over this 3.5 seasons with the Lakers, he shot 41.5% from deep, with a career high 44.3% last season. While Rui doesn’t take as many threes as you’d like (3.6 per game during his Lakers tenure), and is mostly just a spot-up shooter, he’s as reliable as it gets at knocking down open catch-and-shoot threes. That means teams also guard him closely from the perimeter, which opens things up for everyone else. Finally, Rui is actually the all-time NBA leader in playoff three-point shooting percentage, at 51.6%, meaning he has a track record of making shots in high-pressure situations as well.

Rui isn’t just a good three-point shooter, however. He’s also adept from the midrange and long-two area. Throughout most of his career, Rui has taken around 30% of his shots from the midrange or long-two regions of the court, and has shot 45.9% and 44.3% respectively from those spots on the floor across his career. Those might not sound amazing, but for that range those are actually quite excellent. You can give Rui the ball, and with his height, strength, and shooting touch, he can create a fairly reliable mid-range bucket almost any time he wants. Those midrange shots still aren’t great efficiency, but it’s not a bad source of offense when push comes to shove.

Weaknesses

Rui has always been a disappointing defensive player and rebounder. He has good size and physical tools, but has just never been a plus defender, even when “locked in”. The fact that he is so big and strong means he doesn’t get “picked on” in one-on-one settings like smaller guards can, but the Clippers will have to cover for him on defense. The rebounding is even more frustrating, because it’s declined almost every year that Rui has been in the NBA. He used to be just a “blah” rebounder, but the past few years he’s been actively abysmal on the glass. His defensive rebound percentage in his seven years in the NBA go: 17.0, 15.5, 15.6, 16.5, 13.7, 12.6, 10.9. Unless things really turn around, Rui will not provide much support on defense in any capacity outside of sheer size.

Offensively, Rui’s shooting is unimpeachable. Unfortunately, he has never been able to leverage his shooting to get downhill and draw fouls or make plays for others. His free throw rate has declined over the years as he’s moved more behind the three-point line on offense, with a paltry 1.1 free throws attempted last year (his career high was 2.9 as a rookie). Similarly, the playmaking has never developed in any real way, with Rui’s assists career high also coming as a rookie (1.8), and posting a career low 0.8 per game last year. He’s not a ball hog, but the Clippers will not be able to rely on him to create shots for others, only himself.

Summary

Rui reminds me a lot of former Clipper Marcus Morris. Longtime readers and listeners will know that I detested watching Marcus Morris, and might think that I feel similarly about Rui. That’s not quite the case. Morris’ personality irritated me, and he was also brought in as the final piece to a championship contender before being overplayed compared to superior alternatives. Rui is coming into a far lower pressure setting, the Clippers don’t have better options at power forward, and he seems like a very cool guy. However, I do think that like Marcus, Rui is quite overrated as a player – he can score and shoot, but he’s below average at basically everything else, and his position is probably the one in the NBA that is most focused on doing little things and being a connective tissue. Thus, even though I’m sure I won’t despise the Rui experience like I did the Marcus Morris tenure, I probably will get frustrated at him a lot. The good news is that if Rui does play well, he seems like a lock to get traded at the deadline to a contender for picks or young players, and that’s probably the best outcome for all involved. In the meantime, he will be a competent role player at a position of need, and his shooting will definitely help the team a lot on offense.

Clippers 2027 Player Preview: Rui Hachimura
Robert Flom

The Clippers will close out their preseason for the 2027 season at home against the Denver Nuggets.

Game Information

Where: Intuit Dome, Los Angeles, California

When: 7:30 PM PT

How to Watch: KTLA, NBA TV, AM 570

Projected Starting Lineups

Nuggets: Jamal Murray – Cam Johnson – Christian Braun – Aaron Gordon – Nikola Jokic

Clippers: Darius Garland – Gradey Dick – Derrick Jones Jr. – Rui Hachimura – Brook Lopez

Notes

How Much Do The Rotation Players Play: A lot of times coaches treat the last preseason game as a test run for the regular season, which means playing something similar to their real rotations, at least for the first three quarters. It will be interesting to see if Ty Lue takes that approach and we see guys like Garland, DJ, and Rui play 25+ minutes or if it’s more of a first-half only affair.

Who Starts at Center: Isaiah Jackson started the Clippers’ first preseason game and Brook Lopez started their second preseason game. Jackson has looked much better than Lopez in preseason, but who knows how much the Clippers coaching staff is factoring that into their regular season rotation equation, especially for veteran players. Still, I would guess whoever starts in this game is the one who will be in the starting lineup for the opening game of the regular season – and to be honest, I have no idea who it will be.

Clippers 2027 Preseason Game 3 Thread
Robert Flom

Our player preview series on the 2027 Clippers continues with promising second-year big man Yanic Konan Niederhauser.

Basic Information

Height: 6’11

Weight: 242 pounds

Position: Center

Age: 23

Years in NBA: 1

Stats: 4.3 points, 2.9 rebounds, 0.3 assists, 0.7 blocks, and 0.1 steals in 10.3 minutes per game across 41 games played (0 starts) on 64/20/64.5 shooting splits (0.1 3PA, 1.5 FTA) with 69.1% TS

Contract Status: In the second year of a first-round rookie contract, making $2.88M this year

Expectations

Yanic might have the widest range of expectations on the team. Optimists can point to the flashes he showed last year, his incredible physical tools, and roster fit with the Clippers’ most important players and suggest that he should be expected to be the Clippers’ locked in starting center as soon as he gets healthy. Pessimists might say that the Lisfranc injury that cost him the offseason combined with his rawness as a player means he should be brought along relatively slowly, and that this is still a learning season. I fall somewhere in the middle – I don’t expect Yanic to be a hyper productive, high impact starting-level player this season, but I do think that once he’s fully healthy he should be fed all the minutes that he can handle and play a major role in the rotation. I expect lots of lob dunks, hard screens, and blocked shots, as well as mistimed rotations and turnovers. It will be a mixed bag, I’m sure, but hopefully on the positive side of that spectrum.

Strengths

Yanic has an insane physical profile even by NBA player standards. He’s massive, is an explosive vertical leaper, and is extremely fast running in a straight line. Those qualities make him very intriguing as a modern pick-and-roll center, ala De’Andre Jordan, Tyson Chandler, or Clint Capela. Yanic is a dynamic presence above the rim, and can unleash truly thunderous dunks if not checked. The speed is also a huge boon in transition, where he can outrun opposing big men and get inside position or even free dunks.

Those measurements and that leaping ability come into play on defense too. If opposing players try soft shots around the basket Yanic has no difficulty in snuffing them out. He had some major blocks last year, and promises to have even more as he gets stronger and better understands the NBA game.

Lastly, there’s the undeniable fact that Yanic plays with seemingly boundless energy and enthusiasm. It’s extremely important for players of his archetype to actually use their athleticism, and Yanic does so by running hard in transition, setting ferocious screens, and making second efforts on defense. Athleticism is wasted without effort, and so far there’s been no sign of that wastage from Yanic.

Weaknesses

Despite being 23 years old, Yanic is a very raw player, which is why he fell to the 30^th pick in the draft despite his obvious tools. He plays with a ton of energy, but is frequently out of position on both ends of the court. For the Clippers’ purposes, defense is the area where that hopefully gets cleaned up the most. He was a foul magnet last season (5.6 fouls per 36 minutes), and that was mostly due to being in the wrong spots on the court (in additional to lacking some physical strength). If he can cut down on those fouls, he will simply be able to stay on the court longer, which would be huge. But that positional awareness as well as the understanding of the complexities of NBA defense do not come overnight. Yanic should improve this season, but it’s unlikely he turns the corner fully in terms of his ability to be in the right spots on a regular basis.

The rawness also shows up in Yanic’s offense as well. He has a soft touch, evidenced by his excellent (for a big man) 75.8% free throw percentage, but he’s not a threat to shoot from deep yet (1-5 last year) or really from anywhere outside the paint. Yanic might have a post game, but we haven’t seen it yet – his offense comes entirely from rim-running and offensive rebounds. Despite some flashes of a handle, there’s also not a ton of indication of playmaking from either college or limited professional numbers, though he has made a couple of nice passes out of dribble handoffs. In short, it’s hard to think Yanic will be able to do much with the ball in his hands this season outside of dunk or give it back to ballhandlers.

Summary

Yanic has a very good case as the third most important player on the Clippers behind Keaton Wagler and Darius Garland. That’s both in terms of this season and for the long-term. This year, if he provides productive, impactful play at center, the Clippers’ seeming biggest positional weakness might not end up being as big of a drawback as anticipated. In the long-term, he’s one of the few players on the roster with true upside, as much of the team is either lower-upside youngsters or veterans left over from the 213 era. I hope he takes a nice step forward in his second season and truly cements himself as a piece of the Clippers’ core moving forward.

Clippers 2027 Player Preview: Yanic Konan Niederhauser
Robert Flom

Our player preview series on the 2027 Clippers continues with big man Isaiah Jackson.

Basic Information

Height: 6’8

Weight: 220 pounds

Position: Center

Age: 24

Years in NBA: 5

Stats (for Clippers): 7.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.2 blocks, and 0.6 steals in 15.9 minutes per game across 17 games played (0 starts) on 76.4/54.8 shooting splits (0.1 3PA, 1.8 FTA) with 74.1% TS

Contract Status: In the second year of a 3 year, $21M deal, making $7M this season

Expectations

Isaiah Jackson is coming in with the expectation to be a solid contributor to the Clippers’ rotation this year. Vague expectations, to be sure, but that’s the nature of the Clippers’ center rotation. It’s unknown if Jackson will start or come off the bench to begin the season, as he and Brook Lopez are battling for the starting role with Yanic Konan Niederhauser out for the opening of the season. It’s also not clear if Yanic will immediately seize the starting (or even a rotation) role when he returns, or if the Clippers will defer to the veterans as long as they’re on the team. Thus, it’s possible Jackson starts much of the season, comes off the bench for some or all of it, or is out of the rotation once Yanic comes back. I’d guess that just due to Yanic’s injury and Brook’s age IJax will play a good amount this season, but we will see.

Strengths

Isaiah is an excellent rim-running big man on offense. He shot 73.8% at the rim last year and 79.5% on those shots in his last full season in Indiana in 2024. Now fully recovered from the Achilles tear he suffered early in the 2025 season, I would expect him to have even more bounce this year and for those shooting percentages to increase. He’s bouncy, coordinated, and has good hands catching the ball, all recipes for lob dunks and finishes in traffic. The lack of height can be a deterrent, but Jackson will definitely provide a vertical, above-the-rim finishing threat this season that the Clippers have missed at times in the past few years in their non-Zu big men.

I think the biggest positive about Isaiah Jackson is the energy he plays with. He’s always hustling, always moving fast, and does not give up on plays. As with all NBA players, that energy does not always go in the correct direction or for the right positioning, but the difference in speed between him and Brook Lopez in tracking down loose balls and general movement is so huge that it’s immensely refreshing. He’s a plus athlete by NBA standards and uses those tools for offensive finishing, defensive tracking, and hustle plays. To sum, I think he’s just kind of fun to watch!

Weaknesses

Listed at 6’8 and with a weight somewhere in the 210s-220s, IJax is significantly undersized for the center position. He makes up for that lack of size with athleticism and energy, but he’s still a below-average rebounder for a starting big man and can get pushed around by larger centers. A decent shotblocker, nobody will mistake him for Rudy Gobert as a rim protector, and there are just limitations to how good your defense and rebounding can be with him manning the middle.

While Jackson is a capable offensive player, he’s very limited on that end. He can’t shoot from deep at all (7-37 from three across 5 NBA seasons), is a poor free throw shooter (66.6% NBA career), and is not a real passing/playmaking threat (0.8 assist average). He’s exclusively a play-finisher, and those shots are coming primarily at the rim or maybe from floater range. There’s nothing wrong with that, per se – most of NBA big men throughout the history of the league have operated similarly – but in today’s NBA the more shooting, playmaking, and creation you can have on the floor the better. Isaiah won’t be asked to do any of that, and that’s fine, but it is a weakness, especially considering the Clippers’ dearth of advantage-creators on offense.

Summary

Jackson will presumably get an opportunity to play consistent minutes this season, and I expect that he’ll play pretty well, as he generally has in the NBA when he’s been healthy. Still just 24 years old (turns 25 in January), he’s someone that could be a longer-term member of the Clippers, even if it’s just as a backup center behind (hopefully) Yanic Konan Niederhauser. There’s not much upside, and Jackson’s lack of height gives him certain inherent weaknesses, but he seems like a nice player to have around if his play returns to that of his Clippers’ stint last year or last full season with the Pacers in 2024. It’s not the most important roster spot to have figured out, but the Clippers could have their backup center of the future on the roster, and as we saw in the 213 era, not having a good backup big man can be deadly. Maybe IJax can remedy that moving forward.

Clippers 2027 Player Preview: Isaiah Jackson
Robert Flom

Our player preview series for the 2027 Clippers continues with rookie forward Baba Miller.

Basic Information

Height: 6’11

Weight: 208 pounds

Position: Power Forward/Center

Age: 22

Years in NBA: Rookie

College Stats: 13.0 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.2 blocks, and 0.7 steals in 31.9 minutes per game across 31 games played on 52.9/19.2/65.8 shooting splits (1.7 3PA, 4.8 FTA) with 60.2% TS

Contract Status: In the first year of a 4 year, $9.6M deal, making $1.7M this season

Expectations

I’ll repeat myself from the Martinelli preview and say that second round rookies shouldn’t really have expectations. Miller is a bit different, of course – he was drafted much higher in the second round than Martinelli and is on a fairly large contract for a second rounder while Martinelli is on a two-way – but in general the same principle applies. I do think the path is clearer for Baba to get minutes this season than Nick, largely because of the Clippers’ positional weakness at center and power forward. Still, if he does get rotation minutes and is at all positive in them, it would be a real win. I’d expect a lot of Miller being out of position and looking raw, but with flashes of his defensive potential shining through.

Strengths

For someone his size, Baba moves extremely quickly and fluidly. He’s not quite a Thompson twin level athlete, but even by NBA standards he’s a very good one. His physical and athletic measurements indicate a lot of potential upside on the defensive end of the court – he could be someone both capable of switching out onto smaller players on the perimeter as well as offering protection around the rim. Baba has a way to go regarding positioning and strength, but he should be able to be a defensive playmaker right away.

Baba was also a monster rebounder his senior season at Cincy. He was a bit less impressive there earlier in his collegiate career, but again, with his size and leaping ability, he should be able to be a plus rebounder. For a relatively raw player, Baba also showed a lot of playmaking ability; 3.7 assists is a lot in college, especially for a non point guard. Thus, if some of this stuff translates to the NBA, Baba should be able to impact the game in a lot of ways outside of just scoring, which is always hugely important for role players.

Weaknesses

For a player who is either going to be a forward or small-ball center, Baba has not displayed much of an ability to shoot, with dreadful three-point shooting percentages and pretty bad free throw numbers his senior year. The touch certainly isn’t DeAndre Jordan level bad, but an ability to make NBA threes seems unlikely early on (his shot looked good in Summer League, but it’s Summer League). Now, if Baba is playing with a center who can shoot, like Brook Lopez, that might not matter as much, and if he’s able to bulk up and play center in the future it won’t matter as much either, but it does seem to be a weakness now.

Summary

Baba Miller is a raw rookie that doesn’t have a ton of expectations this season, but I think his combination of size and athleticism plus his defensive potential will give him a shot in the rotation. He’s very raw, so I don’t know how much he’ll play or how good he’ll be, but I’m excited to watch him in an NBA context, and think he will be fun regardless. If he does pop at all, it could be a really, really big deal for the Clippers, because Baba’s high-end outcomes are quite high indeed.

Clippers 2027 Player Preview: Baba Miller
Robert Flom

Our player preview series on the 2027 Clippers continues with rookie forward Nick Martinelli.

Basic Information

Height: 6’7

Weight: 223 pounds

Position: Small Forward/Power Forward

Age: 22

Years in NBA: Rookie

College Stats: 23.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 0.8 steals in 35.6 minutes per game across 33 games played on 51/41.7/80.9 shooting splits (3.3 3PA, 6.7 FTA) with 60.2% TS

Contract Status: Two-way contract

Expectations

As a late second-round rookie on a two-way deal, expectations for Martinelli this season are low. Positionally, he’s somewhere in the forward range, which does increase his chances of playing time, but even with all of the injuries the Clippers are dealing with in preseason he’s not in the rotation. As the Clippers (hopefully) get healthier, Martinelli will probably settle into a garbage time role, perhaps with some extended stints in the G-League. If he does play, I think Martinelli could competently fill minutes as a tertiary ballhandler and second unit scorer – I just don’t know how much of a chance he’ll get with so many vets ahead of him.

Strengths

Martinelli is, as the kids say nowadays, a bucket and a problem. Scoring 23 points per game on exceptional efficiency in the Big 10 is extremely impressive, and Martinelli poured in buckets from all over the court – midrange, three-pointers, free throws, and paint shots. He has a soft touch, a competent handle, and is just generally someone who can score at all three levels. Whether that will translate to the NBA remains to be seen, of course, but if Martinelli plays I think he will score.

One thing that was true of Martinelli across his college career is that he was a low turnover player. Even with a high usage rate his senior year, he turned the ball over only 1.4 times per game. He did have a negative assist to turnover ratio his junior season, but giving the ball up 2 times per game when being a 20 point scorer is not really an awful sign. I was impressed by Martinelli’s handle in Summer League – he really seemed to be able to keep it tight and under control even against real defensive pressure. Martinelli will presumably never be the lead ballhandler or playmaker for an NBA unit, but his smart decision-making and solid ballhandling should enable him to be an effective secondary offensive weapon.

Weaknesses

The biggest barrier to Martinelli being a rotation player in the NBA is probably his play on the defensive side of the ball. Martinelli is not laterally quick, which means he won’t be effective guarding NBA perimeter players, but he might also not be strong enough to defend larger frontcourt players. Martinelli seems to have good instincts, and if he works on his strength and footwork I think he can survive in the NBA as a defensive player, but that side of the ball will almost certainly never be his calling card.

Summary

I liked the Martinelli pick on draft night, I was impressed by his play in Summer League, and he showed some nice flashes in the Clippers’ first preseason game. With all that said, if he has a real role on this 2027 Clippers team, it will probably be because something went wrong, either due to injuries to veterans, poor play, or both. I think next season will be Martinelli’s chance to get a real crack at the rotation, but I hope he plays well in whatever opportunities he gets this year.

Clippers 2027 Player Preview: Nick Martinelli
Robert Flom

Our player preview series on the 2027 Clippers continues with two-way rookie big man Jamarion Sharp.

Basic Information

Height: 7’5

Weight: 235 pounds

Position: Center

Age: 25

Years in NBA: Rookie

G-League Stats: 7.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.9 steals, and 4.1 blocks in 25.1 minutes per game across 39 games played on 73.5/42.9 shooting splits (1.1 FTA) with 74.2% TS

Contract Status: Two-way contract

Expectations

There usually aren’t many expectations for two-way players, and that’s even more true for undrafted rookies like Sharp, who was signed by the Clippers over the summer after going undrafted in 2024. However, due to the Clippers’ weakness at center, some people think that Sharp will have a real role on this team. Certainly, early in the season, before Yanic Konan Niederhauser gets healthy, there’s a chance that Sharp gets into the rotation if Brook Lopez or Isaiah Jackson is out with injury, sickness, or foul trouble. Sharp is the third-string center right now, and the Clippers no longer have viable small-ball options, so it’s not hard to imagine him getting minutes. If he does, the hope will be he’s just competent enough to keep the Clippers from actively sinking during his minutes. Anything more than that would be gravy.

Strengths

Sharp is an exceptional shot blocker who averaged 4.1 swats in 25 minutes in the G-League, and averaged an incredible 4.6 blocks one season in the NCAA (albeit in a mid-major conference). He is so tall that opposing players will think twice before shooting around the basket with him there, and he clearly has good enough coordination and reflexes to make simple reads in alignment with defensive schemes. Anytime he plays real minutes, he seems like a lock to get a block or two as well as deter multiple other shots.

Sharp is not a prolific scorer by any means, but he shot 73.5% from the field last year in the G-League, 60.1% the year before that, and close to 60% at Ole Miss. He is so tall that he can probably convert one or two easy lobs/finishes per game, especially when playing with guys like Darius Garland and Keaton Wagler that are adept playmakers. Being tall results in easy buckets, even if they aren’t frequent or fancy.

Sharp’s sheer height also makes him a threat on the offensive glass. He’s not strong or athletic enough to be a dominant presence out there, but he can simply reach and grab balls before almost anyone else on the court can, and he is so close to the basket that any offensive rebound should result in a finish or foul.

Weaknesses

Sharp offers almost no value on the offensive end outside of offensive rebounds (he’s not strong enough to be a true force there but is so tall he gets a decent amount) and simple finishes around the rim. Sharp can’t shoot, he can’t dribble, he can’t pass, and he can’t make free throws. Thus, if he plays for a significant period and is having an impact, a “Hack-a-Sharp” could be employed upon him. It’s very tough to play guys in the modern NBA that have no ball skills, even big men, and that is something the Clippers will run into if Sharp makes his way into rotation minutes.

There is also seemingly a degree of fatigue that will dog Sharp. Humans his size being able to run and jump up and down frequently is crazy enough, and it’s notable that he averaged only 25 minutes per game in the G-League and never played more than 29 minutes per game in college. The physicality and athleticism of the NBA game could be really tough for Sharp. It’s doubtful he’d play extended minutes outside of garbage time anyway, but it’s something to keep an eye on.

On defense, while Sharp is a monster rim protector, he does not have the lateral quickness to switch at all out on the perimeter. I would guess that when he plays, the Clippers will have to run pretty standard drop defensive coverages to protect and optimize Sharp. Some all-time defensive players have relatively limited schematic capabilities, but it’s something the Clippers will have to work around.

Summary

Any player with Sharp’s dimensions has at least some intrigue. There are not many 7’5 human beings in the world, and even fewer of them that can play professional sports. The lack of skill removes most of that intrigue, but Sharp should be able to offer rim protection and have some fun highlights, and for a fourth-string center on a two-way deal that’s fine. I don’t imagine Sharp having a long tenure on the Clippers, but who knows.

Clippers 2027 Player Preview: Jamarion Sharp
Robert Flom

I’m on vacation and will not be watching this one, but here are some basics for the game.

Information

Where: Stan Sheriff Center, Honolulu, Hawaii

When: 4:00 PM PT

How to Watch: TBD

Projected Starting Lineups

Warriors: Steph Curry – Brandin Podziemski – Yaxel Lendeborg – Draymond Green – Kristaps Porzingis

Clippers: Darius Garland – Kris Dunn – Brandon Ingram – Rui Hachimura – Brook Lopez

I’m pre-writing this game thread a couple weeks early due to said vacation, so I will not be plugged into any stories in development during media day or early training camp. The above starting lineup is my best guess as to what the Clippers go with: Garland, Ingram, and Lopez are locks, Hachimura was their big free agent signing who fits in decently with his shooting, and Dunn adds perimeter defense and a bit of ballhandling. The Dunn spot is the most questionable to me, as that could be Derrick Jones Jr. or Max Strus and I would not be surprised.

As for the game itself, outside of noting which players appear to be ahead of others in the rotation, there’s not much to take away. The result doesn’t matter, which players shots go in doesn’t matter, and the whole thing will be forgotten about by the second game of the regular season. I hope that the Clippers show up healthy, that the young guys maybe flash a couple of new skills, and that the rotations make sense. Outside of that, it will be good for the focus to be on the Clippers’ basketball team, and not off-the-court stuff.

Clippers 2027 Preseason Game 1: Game Thread
Robert Flom

The once mighty Pacific Division has fallen far, placing in my opinion as the weakest of the six divisions in the NBA, with one playoff team, a few play-in hopefuls, and one bottom-feeder.

Los Angeles Lakers

Additions: Walker Kessler, Quentin Grimes, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Collin Sexton, Matisse Thybulle, Jaden Hardy, Kevon Looney, Ziaire Williams, Cameron Carr (24^th pick in 2026 Draft)

Subtractions: LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, Marcus Smart, Luke Kennard, De’Andre Ayton, Jaxson Hayes, Maxi Kleber, Drew Timme, Kobe Bufkin

Other: Re-signed Austin Reaves to a max deal

Outlook: The Lakers were a very good regular season team last year, and it just seems like JJ Redick is an excellent head coach for driving consistent winning. The Lakers did overhaul more than half of their roster, including basically all of their rotation players but Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, but they did get younger and more athletic for the most part. I thought they overpaid pretty significantly for Walker Kessler, and I didn’t like that deal for them – but there’s no question he’s a massive upgrade at center and will help stabilize their defense. The Lakers don’t have enough perimeter defense or a third guy good enough behind Luka and Reaves for me to think they are championship contenders, but if Luka is healthy they feel like a lock to win a lot of games and be a dangerous playoff opponent.

Prediction: 52-30 (Last year predicted 50-32, actually 53-29)

Golden State Warriors

Additions: Yaxel Lendeborg (11th pick in the 2026 Draft), Georges Niang, Brandon Williams

Subtractions: Quinten Post, Seth Curry, Malevy Leons

Other: Re-signed Draymond Green, Re-signed Kristaps Porzingis, Re-signed Al Horford, Re-signed Gary Payton II, Re-signed De’Anthony Melton, Re-signed Charles Bassey

Outlook: The Warriors seem stuck in a holding pattern as Steph Curry ages into the final portion of his career. Jimmy Butler’s season-ending ACL tear killed whatever minimal chance the Warriors had to be a real playoff team last year, and his injury should keep him out for much of this year as well. Add in Moses Moody’s torn Achilles that will probably hold him back for most of if not the entirety of the 2027 season and you have a Warriors’ team that is probably worse on paper than the one that started last season. The big wild card is rookie Yaxel Lendeborg, who was probably the best player in college last season and powered Michigan to a national championship. Lendeborg is old for a rookie but should be able to help out right away: the question is whether he’s just a decent role player or could be a high-level starter. Even if Lendeborg does prove to be an impact player, if Steph Curry slips at all the Warriors will be fully cooked anyway. It’s hard to imagine them being an above-average team considering the age of Steph, Draymond, Horford, and other rotation players, but they will probably be competent enough.

Prediction: 35-47 (Last year predicted 46-36, actually 37-45)

Phoenix Suns

Additions: Miles Bridges, Luke Kennard, Koa Peat (30^th pick in 2026 Draft)

Subtractions: Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale, Amir Coffey, Nigel Hayes-Davis

Other: Extended Dillon Brooks, Re-signed Collin Gillespie, Re-signed Mark Williams, Re-signed Jordan Goodwin, Re-signed Haywood Highsmith

Outlook: The Suns were one of the most pleasant surprises in the NBA last season, recovering from the disappointing Kevin Durant era with a hard-playing, gritty team that clawed its way into the playoffs despite a talent disadvantage. Those teams are fun, but its very hard to sustain that level of effort year-to-year, and the Suns won’t be able to take anyone by surprise this season. There’s also not a ton of internal development available to the Suns outside of second-year big man Khaman Maluach, as most of the team are in their primes and not likely to improve significantly. I also hated the acquisition of Miles Bridges, both because of his off-the-court awfulness as well as his on-court impact. The Suns will be ok, and I could see them squeaking into the play-in again, but I’ve built in some regression for this year.

Prediction: 34-48 (Last year predicted 29-53, actually 45-37)

Los Angeles Clippers

Additions: Keaton Wagler (5^th pick in 2026 Draft), Brandon Ingram, Rui Hachimura, Max Strus, Gradey Dick, Baba Miller (36^th pick in 2026 Draft), Nick Martinelli (55^th pick in 2026 Draft), Johni Broome

Subtractions: Kawhi Leonard, John Collins, Bennedict Mathurin, Nicolas Batum, Bogdan Bogdanovic

Other: Re-signed Bradley Beal, Re-signed Kobe Sanders, Re-signed Jordan Miller

Outlook: As always, I won’t go too in-depth on the Clippers, since that’s what our regularly scheduled content is for. But overall, I think the Clippers will be ok to bad this season, with their upside limited because of the defensive end of the floor. Their starting center is approximately 1 million years old in basketball age, Darius Garland is their best offensive player but is awful on defense, and a lot of their other high-minute players like Brandon Ingram and Rui Hachimura are bad on that end too. Kris Dunn and Derrick Jones Jr. can only do so much on that end. For the actual long-term outlook of the team, I just hope Keaton Wagler looks good off the bench. If not, this will be a long, long year.

Prediction: 33-49 (Last year predicted 51-31, actually 42-40)

Sacramento Kings

Additions: Darius Acuff (7th pick in 2026 Draft), Alex Karaban (29^th pick in 2026 Draft), Emanuel Sharp (45^th pick in 2026 Draft), Ben Simmons

Subtractions: DeMar DeRozan, Russell Westbrook, Devin Carter

Other: Re-signed Precious Achiuwa, Re-signed Daeqwon Plowden

Outlook: The Kings were trying to be competent last year but failed miserably, finally pulling the plug around halfway through the season to lean into the tank. They were not rewarded with a top lottery pick for their troubles, but did secure Darius Acuff, their most exciting young prospect since Tyrese Haliburton over a half-decade ago. Unfortunately for the Kings, the detritus of their previous team is still around, including the unhappy Domantas Sabonis, mightily overpaid Zach LaVine, and other expensive veterans like Malik Monk and De’Andre Hunter. Acuff should be fun, I like the Kings’ other rookies well enough, and a couple of their second-year players like Nique Clifford and Dylan Cardwell could be ok complementary pieces. But this team seems like a lock to be a bottom-feeder barring Acuff astonishing as a rookie or guys like LaVine and Hunter having unexpected returns to form.

Prediction: 25-57 (Last year predicted 37-45, actually 22-60)

2027 NBA Season Preview: Pacific Division
Robert Flom

Our player preview series for the 2027 Clippers continues with one of the newest additions to the team, young guard Gradey Dick.

Basic Information

Height: 6’7

Weight: 205 pounds

Position: Shooting Guard/Small Forward

Age: 22

Years in NBA: 3

Regular Season Stats: 6.0 points, 1.9 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 0.6 steals, and 0.6 turnovers in 14.0 minutes per game across 76 games played (1 start) on 41.9/30.1/87.5 shooting splits (2.4 3PA, 1.2 FTA) with 53.8% TS

Contract Status: In the last year of his first-round rookie contract, making $7.13M this year

Expectations

To be brutally honest, Gradey Dick was a throw-in to the Kawhi Leonard trade to make salaries work. It’s possible the Clippers wanted Gradey in the trade (he was a lottery pick just three years ago), but based on what we know of the negotiations, there were other young players that the Raptors held onto, and the Clippers “settled” for Gradey as the second salaried piece of the deal.

Gradey will probably face an uphill climb to get minutes, as positionally he is an off-ball wing, and there are a bunch of those on this roster. Jordan Miller being out for most of the season takes one of those players away, but Gradey will still be competing for minutes with Brandon Ingram, Derrick Jones Jr., Kris Dunn, Max Strus, Bradley Beal, and Kobe Sanders – and that’s not even counting fringier youngsters like Cam Christie (probably going to get cut) or Nick Martinelli (two-way). The Clippers seem like they want to compete this year, which makes sense given they don’t own their own draft pick, so I don’t think just being young will give Gradey an edge over the other guys.

Ultimately, fair expectations for Gradey would be that he gets rotation minutes at some point during the season, and is able to fill in competently enough as a reserve guard. He’s young enough and has shown enough in the NBA that a breakout in a new situation is possible, but I just don’t know if he’ll get the minutes to have such a breakthrough.

Strengths

Gradey hasn’t revealed a ton of strengths at the NBA level, at least consistently. Over his first two season, Gradey was a relatively good shooter, making 36.5% of his threes in his rookie season on medium-low volume (4.0 attempts) and then 35% of his threes his second season on higher volume (6.0) attempts – not great, but certainly a capable outside marksman. Unfortunately, one of the reasons Gradey was pushed out of the Raptors’ rotation last year is that his three-point shooting fell off a cliff, with percentages and volume plummeting. He was billed as a good shooter out of Kansas, so maybe some tweaks to his jumper or approach could get him back on track. If the three-point shooting doesn’t come around, he probably won’t have much of an NBA career.

Sadly, there’s not a whole lot else to bank on. Gradey has good size for an off-guard, standing at 6’7 and weighing somewhat over 200 pounds. While not a good defender, he’s improved over his career to being more or less fine, and is big enough to not get bullied or picked on as much as smaller guards can be. If he continues bulking up a bit, he could be able to guard larger players more consistently, making him a fit for switch-heavy defensive schemes.

Weaknesses

Gradey is somewhat below average or worse at scoring inside the arc, rebounding, and playmaking. He did improve as a driver last year, attaining by far his best mark on two-point scoring (53%) in his career, with a notable jump to at-the-rime scoring all the way up to 71.7% (pretty good). However, he rarely gets to the line, and is an inefficient shooter from floater, midrange, and long two distances. Gradey made strides as a rebounder and passer his sophomore season, when he had the largest role of his three-year career, but those numbers both fell back last year as well.

In short, Gradey isn’t awful, but he has not shown above-average skills at almost anything through three seasons. That’s a base that can be worked upon – if he can just nudge up his three-point shooting and become average at defense, he’d be a fine “3 and D” role player that a lot of teams would value – but does mean that he doesn’t have much to fall back upon if the three-point shooting doesn’t improve.

Summary

Gradey Dick is in the last year of his deal and this front office probably has no attachment to him, so it’s hard to map out his future on the team. If he plays well this season, he’s young enough to become part of this team’s core moving forward. If he doesn’t play well, the Clippers will be able to part ways at the end of the season, or use his salary as ballast for a larger trade. Even if he doesn’t play much or play all that well, the Clippers could keep him around as a back-of-roster flier on a veteran’s minimum. I think there’s at least some hope for Gradey to turn his career around, and it would be a really nice story if he rehabbed his career in Los Angeles. I don’t have a ton of confidence that happens, especially since it’s hard to map his road to minutes, but he is talented and this team could use a player of his archetype.

2027 Clippers Player Preview: Gradey Dick
Robert Flom