According to TNT’s Chris Haynes, the Clippers are expected to pursue a trade for veteran point guard Chris Paul. While Paul was never expected to return to the Phoenix Suns for another season, this afternoon’s blockbuster deal that sent him to the Washington Wizards as part of a package for Bradley Beal has accelerated talks. Now, there’s a chance he could return to Los Angeles, where he may very well already be the greatest player in Clippers franchise history.

Paul, who just turned 38, is owed $30M each of the next two seasons, though his salary for the 2024-25 season is fully non-guaranteed. While he clearly still has something left to offer a team, he’s a shell of the player the Clippers traded to the Rockets 6 years ago. From a fit perspective, Chris does a lot of what you would want offensively alongside Paul George and Kawhi Leonard: he’ll initiate the offense & get them the ball in their spots, and he can hit threes off of kick-outs. But there’s basically no juice left there–his athleticism is completely gone, leaving him unable to get downhill and in trouble defending speedy opponents.

Of course, any Paul talks for the Clippers bring a comparison to incumbent Clippers point guard Russell Westbrook. There are a number of considerations here. One is fit: as I mentioned above, Paul is a major upgrade from Westbrook as a table-setter and floor-spacer. Fewer turnovers and more threes. But the athleticism gap is so wide (Westbrook is WAY closer to the real Russell Westbrook than CP3 is to the real Chris Paul), with Russ simply having so much more gas left in the tank to get downhill and contribute on defense, that I’m skeptical of the reality of Chris’ hypothetical fit. After all, while Russ’ turnovers and lack of shooting did cause significant issues for the team, they previously struggled with applying rim pressure and point of attack defense. Adding Paul to the lineup will exacerbate those weaknesses. There’s also durability: Paul is notoriously incapable of staying healthy, and Westbrook is a tank. On a team with injury-prone stars, Westbrook adds significant value when one or both of George and Leonard aren’t on the floor–whether that’s keeping their minutes down, or playing games without them.

But the conversation doesn’t start and stop with pure fit alongside 213. It’s also unclear if the Clippers really have much choice here. Westbrook, while aging and flawed, clearly showed a resurgance with LAC late in the season and could have played himself out of the Clippers’ price range. If you know that he’s gone in free agency, the Paul-Westbrook debate becomes pointless. I would also float, perhaps foolishly, the possibility of both: Russ embraced a 6th man role for the Lakers last year, which allowed him to be the featured option instead of attempting to play as a complement to other stars, and Chris is ancient, declining, and needs his minutes monitored anyway. Could one be talked into a bench role? And if so, what would it look like for them to share the floor at times to ensure they both got their minutes? Where would that leave guys like Bones Hyland, Norman Powell, and Terance Mann?

Lastly, there are the mechanics of a Clippers trade for Chris Paul. Fortunately, LAC is flush with expiring contracts, which seems to be Washington’s priority as former Clippers executive Michael Winger attempts a full teardown-and-rebuild. Eric Gordon seems likely to be the centerpiece of any effort, with Marcus Morris, Robert Covington, and Nico Batum all possibilities to help close the salary gap. Paul’s contract is also essentially expiring, so if the trade is as straightforward as exchanging expiring money, expect some sweetener from the Clippers–maybe this year’s 30th overall pick, or a couple of 2nds, or maybe Washington likes Brandon Boston Jr.

But the trade could also be expanded beyond just involving CP3. While the Wizards don’t have any devastating long-term money on their books with Beal gone, Landry Shamet has an extra year of guaranteed money past next season, and it’s easy to see why the Wizards would rather not deal with an underwhelming backup shooting guard standing between them and clean books in 2024. Kristaps Porzingis, who should pick up his player option for next season, looms large (literally and figuratively) as a guy the Wizards would surely like to get a return for as part of their tear-down, although the finances escalate quickly and I’m skeptical of adding any serious return assets (Terance Mann or future 1sts) for Porzingis. Lastly, there’s Kyle Kuzma, who has ended up in an awkward situation: his $13M player option for next year is well below what he’s worth, but the team that owns his bird rights is clearly disinclined to give him a big new deal this summer. Depending on what interest he has from other teams in free agency (people talk behind the scenes… him and his agent will know if anyone is planning a big $20M/year offer), maybe working out an opt-in-and-trade to the Clippers, where he knows he’ll get paid in time, is the smart play.

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Clippers Expected to Pursue Chris Paul Trade
Lucas Hann

Two years after their elimination in the 2021 Western Conference Finals, the LA Clippers have made their way back to the NBA Playoffs. Two losses in the double-elimination Play-In Tournament in 2022, both without Kawhi Leonard and the latter without Paul George, led to a rare first round without the Clippers, who will appear in the playoffs for the 10th time in the last 12 years when their series against the Suns tips off Sunday evening. The franchise saw just six postseason appearances in its first 41 seasons, spanning time as the Buffalo Braves, San Diego Clippers, and LA Clippers (technically, with the innovation of the play-in tournament, they’ve made the postseason 11 of the last 12 years).

Even as the Clippers have entered their playoff era after decades at the bottom of the NBA standings, misfortunes have haunted them. I already noted that they didn’t get to play in the 2022 playoffs despite achieving a top-8 finish due to having their stars unavailable in the play-in tournament. Their 2021 Western Conference Finals run, the best in franchise history, saw Kawhi Leonard tear his ACL, forcing the team to play, and be eliminated, without their best player. Chris Paul and Blake Griffin were chronically hurt during the Lob City era’s playoff runs, with the team losing in the first round in back-to-back years in 2016 (without both stars) and 2017 (without Griffin). This year, despite their best caution, an unfortunate late-season knee injury to Paul George has once again left the Clippers facing an uphill playoff battle.

Series Schedule

Game 1: Sunday, 4/16 – 5:00pm PT – TNT and Bally Sports SoCal
Game 2: Tuesday, 4/18 – 7:00pm PT – TNT and Bally Sports SoCal
Game 3: Thursday, 4/20 – 7:30pm PT – NBATV and Bally Sports SoCal
Game 4: Saturday, 4/22 – 12:30pm PT – TNT and Bally Sports SoCal
Game 5: Tuesday, 4/25 – Time TBD – National TV TBD and Bally Sports SoCal
Game 6: Thursday, 4/27 – Time TBD – National TV TBD and Bally Sports SoCal
Game 7: Saturday, 4/29 – Time TBD – National TV TBD and Bally Sports SoCal

What’s that old saying about insult and injury? As if heading into the playoffs without Paul George wasn’t bad enough, the NBA’s schedulemakers went as far as they could to exacerbate the issue by making them play as many games as quickly as possible. The Suns-Clippers series is the only Western Conference first round series without an extra day off during the first four games (Grizzlies-Lakers and Kings-Warriors both have 2 extra days off during games 1-4), and their game 4 will tip off 7 hours before the Lakers’ game 3. It might not end up mattering, but the Clippers’ accelerated schedule could really cost them as they await a potential mid-series return from George.

Clippers fans will be happy to be reminded, after a year away from the playoffs, that local broadcasts continue to carry games through the first round of the NBA Playoffs, meaning that in-market viewers can still catch Brien Sieman and company a few more times this year.

The Big Picture

It’s hard to not be frustrated with how the Clippers’ 2022-23 campaign played out. It’s perhaps even more frustrating that an injured superstar might be what puts the final nail in LA’s coffin once again. After an ACL injury to Kawhi Leonard left him on the sidelines as the Clippers were eliminated each of the last two seasons, one hope balanced even the lowest moments of the last few months: get to the playoffs healthy, and a 2-time NBA Finals MVP would be on our side. As the playoffs get ready to begin, that much is true, but without his superstar sidekick, Clippers fans are faced with an all-too-familiar looming feeling.

Even if George’s absence is the elephant in the room all series, it’s worth recounting a tumultuous year that was far from on track when he went down against Oklahoma City a few weeks ago. The season was thrown in to disarray early, as a last-minute decision was made hours before opening night tip-off that Leonard was not ready to play a full game of starter’s minutes as he worked back from his ACL surgery. Remember when Kawhi was coming off the bench in the middle of the second quarter and playing second halves? It feels like a bad dream, as do the 19 games the Clippers played without him in the early weeks of the season, completely unsure if and when he’d be returning and what he’d look like when he did. It wasn’t just pessimism from fans, either: the uncertainty around their best player’s health had an effect on the morale and performance of Leonard’s teammates, too.

To Leonard’s credit, after missing 19 of the Clippers’ first 24 games, he played in 47 of the remaining 58, averaging 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. One of the biggest subplots of the 2022-23 season: Kawhi Leonard was BACK back, playing at an All-NBA level, getting to his spots and ruthlessly punishing defenses from them, and winning basketball games. The Clippers were 33-19 with Kawhi in the lineup this season, a better winning percentage than the West’s 2 seed, Memphis (with the significant caveat that every team has to play–and lose–games while missing different combinations of their best players, so the Clippers with Kawhi vs other teams’ full seasons is not a simple or definitive comparison).

But around Leonard’s intermittent absences, the team struggled to find consistent, effective combinations. Incumbent starting point guard Reggie Jackson fell off a cliff after a hard fall in Portland in December, ultimately losing the gig during a 6-game slide before being dealt at the trade deadline. Marcus Morris, a fixture at power forward for the last four years, started 65 of the Clippers’ first 75 games before losing the job to Nico Batum and simultaneously dealing with an illness and back spasms that leave his role unclear heading into the playoffs. Terance Mann went from the fringe of the rotation to starting for a month before the All-Star Break in what was the best stretch of play the team had this year before heading back to the second unit down the stretch. Veteran forward Robert Covington signed a $22M extention just to find himself not in Ty Lue’s plans. The team played without a backup center for much of the year before acquiring Mason Plumlee at the trade deadline. Fellow deadline acquisition Eric Gordon is starting in place of the injured Paul George over longer-tenured teammates. Sophomore guard Bones Hyland is simultaneously the guard who has been most effective in George’s absence and appears most likely to not get minutes in this series. The year has been a mess of four-guard lineups, waning intensity levels, and misdiagnosed issues causing a new stumble every time it felt like the team was ready to find its stride. Even their pair of wins to close the season was troubling, as they barely found a way to survive contests against opponents who were trying to lose.

Despite it all, the Clippers are here. I don’t think we ever dreamed that avoiding the play-in tournament would be a triumph, but they managed it in the closing weeks of the season despite George’s injury. They play the games for a reason. They have talent, experience, and versatility, with a coach who is renowned for finding the right tweaks in best-of-7 playoff series. We’ve waited all year to see if the Clippers were going to find a way to put it all together and make something out of this season. This is their final, and most meaningful, chance to find the best version of themselves.

The Antagonist

In the other corner, we have a Phoenix Suns team that has hardly had a season together at all. Kevin Durant–you might have heard of him–was brought in at the trade deadline in a major blockbuster and has only played 8 games due to an ankle injury. The team’s leader in minutes played this year, Mikal Bridges, hasn’t been on the team for two months. Jae Crowder, Phoenix’s starting power forward the last two seasons, never played a game this year due to a breakdown over extension talks and his planned removal from the starting lineup in favor of Cameron Johnson, who wound up playing just 17 games in an injury-riddled half-season before being a part of the Durant trade. Devin Booker missed 29 games, including almost all of a 2-12 mid-season stretch where the team struggled to stay afloat while severely depleted. Phoenix’s 5th starter is Timberwolves reject Josh Okogie, who signed a one-year minimum contract last summer and was never expected to play this type of role (more on him later).

Phoenix has a very good top 4–Durant, Booker, Chris Paul, and DeAndre Ayton–and a lot of question marks surrounding them. Those 4 guys have only played 159 minutes together. They’ve won those minutes by a staggering 62 points (a rate of about 19 points per game), though the competition level is highly suspect and the small sample is highly unstable. The fit makes natural sense, and the high talent levels and complementary skillsets should allow for those guys to play intuitively without needing a major adjustment period. So far, it’s fair to say that they’ve aced a series of easy tests. They’re 8-0 when Durant plays, but five of those games came against lottery teams and two came against noncompetitive Denver Nuggets lineups that didn’t include Nikola Jokic. The best signature win on the Suns’ resume in the Durant era? A 7-point home win against Western Conference 8-seed Minnesota in Phoenix. When game 1 tips off on Sunday, the Clippers will immediately be the best opponent that the Suns’ new core 4 has faced.

Will that affect the Suns negatively early in the series? It’s hard to say. After all, the Clippers’ current presumed starting lineup without George or Morris has even fewer games together than the Suns’, and as mentioned above, LA’s rotation has been an inconsistent medley throughout the year. Still, no presence in the Clippers’ rotation is quite as unfamiliar or quite as imposing as Durant’s.

Here’s what you can count on from Phoenix: they’ll play at a very low pace, focusing on different combinations of on- and off-ball screens involving all 5 players on the floor to target different matchups for Booker and Durant. Even as his individual prowess has declined, Paul can still pull the strings as well as anyone, meaning efforts to double Durant or Booker are going to be punished when the ball finds his hands out of a trap and gimmicky pick-and-roll coverages will be read and exploited. The core 4 will play the bulk of the minutes, although it’s possible that head coach Monty Williams tries to protect his guys’ from wear and tear in an opening-round series where they are heavily favored, especially in the early games. None of those guys are particularly durable, and Clippers fans know all too well how hard it is to get Chris Paul through a playoff run healthy.

When they go to the bench, there are a number of different options, most of whom focus their contributions on one end of the floor. Cameron Payne is a speed demon ballhandler who has tortured LAC’s slower defenders in the past. Landry Shamet, Terrence Ross, Damion Lee, and T.J. Warren can all provide shooting on the wings. My guess is only one of those guys will be in Williams’ game 1 plans, but we could see others when Phoenix needs a spark as the series goes on. Torrey Craig will see significant minutes as a defensive option against Kawhi Leonard who has had an uncharacteristically stellar season shooting the basketball–a lot of possessions in this series might come down to the Clippers forcing him to prove that improvement is legit. Ish Wainwright provides energy and defense at multiple positions, but will likely only see spot minutes. Bismack Biyombo and Jock Landale each bring something a little different as the backup center (Biyombo is the better defender, while Landale has a more well-rounded offensive game to punish mismatches on switches), and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some centerless looks around Durant at times as well.

Sub-Plots

• Paul George: Look, if it feels like I’m mentioning this a lot, it’s because it’s pretty important. I have a really hard time imagining a scenario where the Clippers win 4 out of 7 games against this Suns team without Paul George. But do I think they can win 1 out of 2 or 2 out of 4 without him, and then close things out when he returns? Yeah, I can buy that. We’re going to be anxiously awaiting updates every day until either he’s back in the lineup or the Clippers are eliminated. It should be obvious that the sooner he returns, the more likely the Clippers are to advance–and that every win they can get without him helps extend the series and keep that hope alive.
• The Grift Zone: One way that the Clippers can win a game without Paul George? His natural replacement (even if he’s coming off the bench instead of starting in Paul’s spot), Norman Powell. Norm has hit the 20-point threshold in 20 of the 60 games he’s played in this season, and the Clippers are going to need his volume and efficiency to make up for the void left by George. But most importantly, they need his most unique skill on this roster: the grift. Norm creates more frivolous fouls against defenders than every other Clipper put together, and leads the Clippers’ rotation in free throws attempted per 36 minutes. The Suns allow the 3rd-most FTA/game in the NBA and themselves attempt the 4th-fewest. The Clippers will almost certainly shoot a lower FG% than the Suns in this series. Bombing threes can help offset that. Games that they win might also need double-digit advantages from the stripe. One more bonus: if the grift can impact Phoenix’s core 4 with foul trouble, it will level the talent disparity between the two teams. Keep an eye on Russell Westbrook’s offensive aggression here too, along with Terance Mann’s mix of downhill drives and ability to solicit illegal contact while defending.
• The 5th Guy: I said that I’d come back to Josh Okogie, and here we are: the 5th guy on the floor for Phoenix. The other 4 Suns starters make over $130 million–Okogie makes $1.8. Yet he’s earned this spot, first by being a fantastic defender this season, but also by mitigating some of the offensive damage by improving his shot from earlier in his career. Okogie shoots 33.5% from deep on the year, and that mark isn’t better in the corner (31.9%, with nearly half of his attempts coming from there). The Clippers will help liberally off of him in their attempt to contain Phoenix’s other guys. The ball will come out to Okogie. He won’t be shy about shooting when open, and he’s had multiple games this year where the shot has fallen, which will send the Clippers’ defense into a scramble. There have also been some really rough games, in which case we could see Monty Williams forced to pull his best defensive option against Kawhi Leonard. But Okogie’s impact isn’t going to be a one-dimensional, make-or-miss thing. The Clippers absolutely have to balance helping off of him with keeping track of him, because he will cut opportunistically and Chris Paul will find him for free dunks when he does. He’s also a fantastic offensive rebounding wing who will impact the series on the glass if the Clippers can’t locate and get a body on him when shots go up. Williams does have better shooting options for this role, but all of them would result in life being easier for Kawhi Leonard on the other end.

• The Finale: I don’t really know how to properly contextualize the Clippers’ rather embarrassing barely-win against Phoenix’s mostly-third-string lineup on the last day of the regular season, in what was a must-win game for LA and a throwaway game for the Suns. It feels worth addressing, but it doesn’t feel like the most meaningful data point. It was a day with weird energy, weird scenarios, weird delays, scoreboard-watching, and mixed motivations. I don’t want to pretend it didn’t happen, but I also don’t think it tells us anything about this series.
• Possessions: The Suns were a top-10 offensive rebounding team this season, but a bottom-10 defensive rebounding team. The Clippers were the opposite–top-10 on the defensive glass, bottom-10 on the offensive glass. How meaningful are those season-long stats when we consider that the Suns sample barely includes their new giant, good rebounding wing in Durant and the Clippers’ sample only includes half of a season of Kawhi Leonard and 20 games of one of the best rebounding guards in history in Russell Westbrook? Hard to say. But as I mentioned above, it seems obvious to me that the Suns will have a more efficient halfcourt offense in this series than the Clippers. LAC has to mitigate that damage, but they also have to win on the margins. Scoring in transition, getting more free throws, and making more threes obviously all help. But winning the possession volume battle via rebounding and turnovers will go a long way in leveling the halfcourt battle. The Clippers lost games early in the year where they outshot their opponents but took 20 fewer attempts because of turnovers and offensive rebounds. Winning games in this series is going to require flipping that script and exploiting those margins to take more shots than their opponents.
• Rotations: Playoff depth is somewhere between overrated and essential. On the one hand, a much higher share of playing time and touches goes to a shorter rotation comprised of teams’ best players, meaning quality role players on the bench have a smaller impact than in the regular season. On the other hand, lots of teams meet their demise because in-series adjustments call for them to need another ball-handler, or perimeter defender, or wing shooter, or rim protector, and they simply don’t have a competent guy in that mold on their bench. Playoff rotations are traditionally 8 or 9 men, but both of these teams have guys in spots 10, 11, and 12 who could be trusted by their coaches for situational use. We could see a bit of role player chess as this series goes on.

• KD and Russ: I gotta be honest, this isn’t a subplot that I care a ton about, but it’s going to be everywhere in the coverage of this series. Both players were gracious in their comments about each other as former teammates playing against each other for the first time in the playoffs. I think it’s fair to say that despite that positivity, Russell Westbrook will approach this matchup with a bit of an edge. Channeling that appropriately could mean we see the best version of him on defense, which the Clippers really need in this matchup, as well as bringing a tone-setting energy for the rest of the team to match. Getting caught up in it could end up being a distraction if he lets wanting to prove a point hurt his decision-making on offense. Either way, I don’t think this dynamic will be series-defining or as important as the national media will make it out to be.
• Matchups: Okogie guarding Kawhi is a no-brainer. Expect everything else to get weird. Do the Clippers put Batum on Ayton and Zu on Okogie so that they can comfortably switch screens and let Zu play free safety? How do they balance Kawhi’s defensive duties early in games with his offensive workload? Will he guard Booker or Durant down the stretch of games? Will Durant guard Kawhi down the stretch so that Monty can put another shooter on the floor? Can Chris Paul handle guarding Russell Westbrook’s athleticism and phsyicality at this stage in their careers? (And since that one is probably no, how will Monty hide CP3 on Gordon/Batum, and how aggressively will the Clippers pursue Chris on switches?) The Clippers will need large doses of Norman Powell on offense in this series, but he’s been a severe liability on defense this season, and they’ll need to find opportunities to hide him. Bones Hyland has been fantastic in recent weeks and even competed on defense, but how many units can you realistically get away with Bones and Norm playing together against this Suns attack? Marcus Morris typically does well against slower, stronger players, meaning that if he’s healthy and moving well he could be a switchable smallball 5 option off the bench instead of Plumlee, who has been a disaster on defense lately. Robert Covington can help a lot on the backline but struggles on-ball and could be miscast in a role where he’s asked to handle KD for a shift. Again, I imagine we’ll see a lot of different iterations of role player chess.
• Game 1: For some reason, I can’t shake the feeling that game 1 could decide this series. Obviously, every game is important in a best-of-7. But it will be 10 days since Phoenix’s starters’ last game, which was an exhibition against a Denver team with no starters playing. Their last game against a competitive opponent was April 2nd against Oklahoma City. As mentioned above, they haven’t been tested. They’ll be rusty. And they’ll probably only get better as the series goes on. If the Clippers steal game 1 on the road, they give themselves a desperately-needed margin for error as they await Paul George’s return. A little hope might also go a long way for a team that is overmatched on paper and aware of their underdog status. I think a game 1 win for the Clippers makes this series a coin flip, pending George’s health. A game 1 loss doesn’t end the series, but it makes the path forward very hard.

Clippers vs Suns Series Prediction: Suns in 6

Ultimately, I think there is a talent gulf in this series that would require the Clippers to be at their best and firing on all cylinders to overcome. But in addition to missing their second best player for an unknown portion of the series, this just doesn’t feel like a team that ended the season firing on all cylinders and knowing who they are and how to make each other better. As a group, they really aren’t that much more experienced and developed together than the Durant Suns. I do think that the Clippers will challenge Phoenix. Ty Lue will adjust–maybe even overadjust, at times–to take away what is working and make them win in different ways. I can see a team, even one as talented as Phoenix, stumbling as they figure out how to respond to that in real time considering how few meaningful, competitive reps they have together. And I think that the Clippers have potential avenues to winning this series, involving a mix of opportunism and luck early coupled with a timely return to the court for George. But overall, talent is king in the NBA, and the Suns have the kind of advantage in available star power that is rarely overcome over the course of a 7-game series.

Coverage

Check out the 213Hoops series prediction staff roundtable!
Hate read Robert Flom’s Q&A with a homertastic Suns blogger friend!
Subscribe to The Lob, The Jam, The Podcast on all platforms for:
1) A special episode of The Lob, The Jam, The Pod with Suns reporter Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports and Clippers reporter Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints.
2) A series preview with 213Hoops’ Shapan Debnath, Robert Flom, and Cole Huff.
3) A game 1 preview with 213Hoops’ Shapan Debnath, Justin Wilson, and Jamal Christopher.
4) Postgame pods for every Clippers playoff game, and special off-day analysis podcasts with guests.
Subscribe to the Clips N’ Dip Podcast on all platforms for pre-series analysis and ongoing updates from Adam Auslund, Charles Mockler, and Will Updyke.
Listen in to my appearance on the PHNX Suns podcast previewing this series (I’m the second guest, Forbes NBA columnist Shane Young is the first half of the episode).
Take a look at Suns blogger Dave King’s series preview, including a Q&A with me on the Clippers’ strengths and weaknesses.

213Hoops is an independently owned and operated L.A. Clippers blog by Clippers fans, for Clippers fans. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at $1 a month and support from readers like you goes a long way towards helping us keep 213Hoops sustainable, growing, and thriving.

2023 NBA Playoffs Series Preview: LA Clippers Face Phoenix Suns in First Round
Lucas Hann

It wasn’t so long ago that I wrote about the Clippers’ active role in the point guard market–how fast things change in a week in the lead-up to the NBA trade deadline. Today the news broke that mercurial star guard Kyrie Irving has requested a trade from the Brooklyn Nets. This latest fallout between Irving and the Nets organization continues long-running disagreements that have consumed the franchise ever since Irving and Kevin Durant joined the team in free agency in 2019, the same year that the Clippers signed Kawhi Leonard and traded for Paul George.

Without retelling in detail a long, ugly, and controversial history that most basketball fans are already familiar with, the current trade demand is based in an inability between the sides to agree to a contract extension. Irving’s ability to appear in NBA games has been impacted by off-court controversies that have ranged from erratic to uninformed to hateful. As a result, the Nets want to include some stipulations on a new contract that would protect them and provide him with a financial incentive to avoid controversy. We don’t know the details of the negotiations, but one can imagine what contract language around morality and availability might sound like. Irving, naturally, wants his money to be guaranteed. Regardless of your feelings towards the entire situation, the dispute here boils down to the same type of tension we see in other negotiations, with the team wanting to protect themselves from downside and the player wanting to guarantee his earnings.

There is, undeniably, a “should the Clippers trade for Kyrie Irving?” debate raging on twitter. At least a half-dozen fanbases are having that debate right now, and the same war is raging inside front offices. We don’t have to fool ourselves into thinking that NBA teams are going to try to stake some moral high ground about not getting a guy because of his vaccination status or antisemitic tweets–professional sports pretty consistently glosses over moral considerations if someone is good enough. But as fans–especially Jewish fans–ask “do I want to root for this guy?” front offices are asking “is this guy gonna show up for us?” Irving has played 143 games in 4 years for the Nets (you know how Kawhi Leonard never plays? He’s at 138 and he tore his ACL) and is a major flight risk, walking away from the Boston Celtics after saying he wanted to re-sign and now threatening to walk away from the Brooklyn Nets. You should probably only trade for him if you’re comfortable giving him a max deal without availability stipulations, which is a scary proposition, because he could ghost you at any time during that deal.

But to be honest, I think the “should the Clippers trade for Kyrie?” debate is a little played out. We get it. He’s an All-Star point guard, and the Clippers are a team that could really use an All-Star point guard. He’s a flight risk and locker room saboteur, and the Clippers are a team that struggles with star availability and internal cohesion. I lean no, but you do you.

It’s probably easier to reach the logical end of the conversation if we ask “should the Nets trade Kyrie to the Clippers?” It’s a no, I think. Brooklyn has essentially two options: reload, and quickly, around 34-year-old MVP contender Kevin Durant, or move on from Durant as well for pennies on the dollar and rebuild. I’m sorry, but any collection of Reggie Jackson, Norman Powell, Luke Kennard, Terance Mann, Marcus Morris, etc. accomplishes neither for the Nets. All of those guys have utility, but none of them give Durant the kind of creative costar that he is going to need for the Nets to be contenders. None of them have the trade value to be flipped for such a star in the next year (which is the problem the Clippers currently have), and none of them are sufficient cornerstones for a rebuild (I know Clippers fans love Luke and Terance but they’re both turning 27 next off-season and are at best fringe starters). The Clippers can also only trade one future first round pick, hurting their offer from both perspectives as they wouldn’t give Brooklyn significant capital to put together a trade package for another star or contribute much to the stockpile of draft picks that the Nets would need to end up with to justify a tear-down.

Other trade partners for Irving make much more sense from one or both perspectives. The Phoenix Suns could work a number of angles involving combinations of Chris Paul, DeAndre Ayton, and a full chest of future draft picks (including potential 3-team options). I imagine that despite his decline, Durant and the Nets would view adding CP3 as an acceptable portion of a win-now return. If Ayton doesn’t interest them, how about a 3-team deal that reroutes Ayton and nets Brooklyn Toronto’s OG Anunoby or Portland’s Anfernee Simons (if they got Simons, they might not want CP3, but we’ll touch on that in a moment)? The Los Angeles Lakers can’t offer Brooklyn help directly, but if they include two unprotected future first round picks, the Nets could move quickly to repackage those picks and replace Irving or at least have them in the war chest if they ultimately trade Durant as well. However, it’s unclear if a Lakers front office that has been conservative with those picks in trade talks up until now would put them both on the table to gamble on Irving. The Dallas Mavericks are also hunting for star talent to pair with Luka Doncic, but a potential deal feels less compelling there; they lack a meaningful costar centerpiece and, given Doncic’s age, have reason to be cautious in conserving their future draft capital for a future swing with lower downside.

And if the Suns, Lakers, and Mavericks all play it safe and the Nets really wind up in a situation where three of the Clippers’ role players and a first is their best option? They should just keep Irving. When Irving and Durant are both healthy, the Nets have been good this year, and they have a chance at winning the 2023 championship–a much better chance at a title than they’ll have trying to retool around Durant with any return they could get from the Clippers. There is the downside that keeping a malcontent Irving could disrupt the locker room, that he could opt to not play, and then ultimately leave for nothing in the summer. But if teams’ skepticism of him has lowered his value so much that the Nets can’t get a better return than what the Clippers can offer, he’s not going to get the no-strings-attached max contract he wants this offseason either. Choosing not to show up to work after the deadline despite the Nets being a good team would only drive that valuation further down. On the other hand, if teams don’t like him enough to make a big trade for him, and therefore don’t like him enough to offer him a big deal this summer… he might be forced by the market to re-engage with Brooklyn on their stipulations. Is he stubborn enough to walk to Orlando just to spite them? Maybe. Is he mercurial enough to reverse course and decide that living in Brooklyn, playing with KD, and winning games is a path worth staying on? Maybe.

So, even tabling the debate about what LAC needs and if Irving is worth the risk, I don’t think the Kyrie-to-LAC thing makes much sense from Brooklyn’s perspective. I do think that it could have some fascinating ramifications on the point guard trade market in general, where the Clippers are known to be one of the most aggressive teams as this deadline approaches. I have mentioned a couple of ideas in recent weeks that warrant revision with this news: first, that I am not sure that the Clippers have a competitive enough trade package to win the Fred VanVleet bidding war as he is the biggest name on the market that teams with assets will be chasing; second, that if the Suns (with far superior trade assets to LAC) won the VanVleet bidding war, that Toronto would have no interest in Chris Paul and the two sides would have to find a win-now team willing to absorb $90M worth of aging hall of fame point guard. Sound like any teams we know?

Irving’s presence on the market–and, in my opinion, the Suns being best-positioned to get him if they want him–changes both of those equations. Assuming the Suns value Irving over VanVleet (this is an obvious on-court preference but could be complicated by teams avoiding off-court risks), the spotlight of the point guard market shifts and the Clippers would have a clearer path, though no guarantee, to a successful offer for VanVleet. The prognosis on potentially scooping Chris Paul out of a multi-team deal if LAC can’t find a deal for VanVleet probably gets a little bit worse, however. One would assume that in most Irving-to-Phoenix scenarios, the Nets would stay in win-now mode and want Paul to be part of a larger return package to keep the team competitive around Durant. There are exceptions, of course–if they can’t find a solution that satisfies Durant and are forced to move him as well, then they’d have little need for a soon-to-be 38-year-old. And if the Nets don’t want Ayton and work a deal where he goes to a third team and a younger star guard comes back to Brooklyn (like Portland’s Anfernee Simons, mentioned above), Chris Paul could be left adrift. Nonetheless, I think it’s most likely that he would join Durant in Brooklyn in the vast majority of potential trade builds.

213Hoops is an independently owned and operated L.A. Clippers blog by Clippers fans, for Clippers fans. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at $1 a month and support from readers like you goes a long way towards helping us keep 213Hoops sustainable, growing, and thriving.

NBA Trade Deadline: Kyrie Irving Demand Complicates Point Guard Market
Lucas Hann

Without their stars and their starting center, the Clippers competed with the NBA-leading Phoenix Suns for most of four quarters before finally falling, 106-89. Read on for this recap of the Clippers closer-for-longer-than-expected loss to the Suns.

Summary

A horrid offense game; Marcus Morris Sr. does what he can; Chris Paul shuts the door; missing Zubac; and more. Here’s what you need to know:

— No one could make a shot.

OK, that’s not true. Cameron Johnson could. He led the winning squad with 24 points. He was the only player to take more than 10 shots and make more than half.

Marcus Morris Sr. could too. He led all scorers with 26 points. More on him later.

It was most everyone else who couldn’t shoot. The Phoenix Suns, the team with the best record in the NBA, made good on just 41% of their field goals and fewer than a third of their three-pointers.

The Clippers made just 6 threes and 36% of their overall shot attempts and still trailed by as little as 3 in the fourth quarter. It was that kind of game.

That the Clippers remained within spitting distance for more than 40 minutes says something about the resilience of the Clippers, but it says more about the Suns’ temporary impotence. Phoenix turned it over just 9 times and heaved up 21 more field goals than the outmatched Clippers. They had chances in every quarter to run away with the game. They just couldn’t make it happen until crunch time.

And unlike the Clippers, the Suns were able to put their two best players on the floor tonight. But Chris Paul scored just 14 points on 5-for-14 shooting. (He also recorded a triple-double; we’ll cover that in a moment.) Devin Booker’s shot was crooked all night. He eked out 11 points on 22 attempts, clanking all 7 of his threes. He never looked comfortable.

Neither did the Clippers for long stretches of this one. After a surprising early lead, they went mute, once going scoreless for 10 minutes of game time. The Suns forgot how to shoot but fully remembered how to defend, even without starting center Deandre Ayton.

Mikal Bridges clamped down on Reggie Jackson and Eric Bledsoe on the perimeter. The Clippers earned just 28 points in the paint, and that was only after a relatively prolific burst in the second half. The Clippers couldn’t get to the cup and rarely reached it from the perimeter. They had few offensive answers.

— Marcus Morris Sr. was one of those answers. In fact, for three quarters, he looked like the only answer. The Clippers’ offense consisted of running into walls before throwing it to Morris for a contested jumper.

Thankfully, Morris delivered, bailing out the Clippers on a number of possessions. He also boosted his game-high in scoring with 7 free throws made on 7 attempts. Without the stalwart Jae Crowder, the Suns struggled with Morris’ physicality. Morris did his part.

— It took a while, but Chris Paul finally restored order. After the Suns squandered countless opportunities to force the Clippers into an early capitulation, Paul locked in for a trademark fourth quarter.

The Point God recorded 5 of his 10 assists in the final frame, circumventing his team’s errant touch by finding opportunistic cutters. He also added 4 rebounds down the stretch, 2 on the offensive end, sealing Clippers’ possessions while extending his own. Paul didn’t submit a wire-to-wire masterwork but a a specific and timely one.

— Sure, we would love to have had Kawhi Leonard and Paul George available for this one, but with both out with long- and medium-term injuries respectively, rueing their absence seems futile.

Ivica Zubac’s COVID-induced absence was the frustrating one. With their starting center healthy and available, the Clippers might actually have reached, and crested, the summit.

First, Zubac could’ve done something about the defensive boards. The Suns pulled down 21 rebounds on the Clippers’ glass. Jalen Smith, starting for the missing Ayton, grabbed 8 of them. When the Suns are missing, you don’t want to give them a chance to shoot again.

Second, he might’ve been a factor on the Suns’ glass. The Clippers needed every offensive tool they could muster. They managed a respectable 8 offensive rebounds, but against a smaller-than-usual Suns squad, it’s easy to think big Zu could’ve had a hearty meal.

–Brandon Boston Jr. may have been the Clippers’ second-most reliable shot creator. He scored 10 in 20 minutes. He finds that midrange jumper almost every time he wants it.

Amir Coffey scored just 8 but his 27 minutes earned illustrate his impact. The Clippers finally unlocked some transition chances as they closed the gap in the early fourth, and it was mostly Coffey finishing them.

Justise Winslow put in good work too. Ignore his empty scoring numbers. He was serviceable as the last line of defense and his playmaking was valuable.

Nic Batum returned tonight and helped steady the reserve unit. The bench’s play was a big reason there were only two real minutes of garbage time. The game was close to being over in both the second and third quarters.

Thanks for reading this game recap of the Clippers’ loss to the Suns. Stay on the lookout for more game coverage and analysis and an episode of TLTJTP soon.

213Hoops is an independently owned and operated L.A. Clippers blog by Clippers fans, for Clippers fans. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at $1 a month and support from readers like you goes a long way towards helping us keep 213Hoops sustainable, growing, and thriving.

Clippers vs. Suns Recap: Ice Cold in the Desert
Thomas Wood

The 2020 NBA off-season had a chaotic opening when the transaction moratorium lifted Monday, as numerous high-profile moves were executed and the breaking news tweets stretched past midnight on the East coast. To get caught up on all the deals and how they impact the Clippers’ offseason, I put together Monday’s NBA trade recap.

Lakers acquire Dennis Schroder

The transaction window got off to a premature start on Sunday, when it was reported that the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder had reached a deal to swap Danny Green and the 28th pick in Wednesday’s draft for Dennis Schroder. The Thunder, who are seemingly ready to lean into their rebuild after a one-year detour with Chris Paul and company, were able to add a late first round pick in exchange for an expiring veteran who would have left in free agency next summer anyway. In addition to the 28th pick, Danny Green’s expiring deal likely has positive trade value–look for him to end up with a team like Dallas or Golden State with additional draft compensation headed to Oklahoma City.

Schroder helps the Lakers, but maybe in a different way than a lot of folks seem to think. With LeBron James only getting older, coming off of a short off-season, and playing an accelerated schedule, a Lakers team that was already somewhat weak in terms of offensive creation simply needed to add another weapon in that category. Schroder, who finished second in sixth man of the year voting last season, will help the Lakers give LeBron nights off, play him fewer minutes, and manage his usage rate. He has his limitations defensively, though, not unlike Lou Williams, and could be a candidate for shooting regression after being a below-average shooter (32.5%) in his first six seasons before hitting 38.5% from deep last season.

The pursuit of Schroder at point guard is also connected to an apparent belief on the Lakers’ part that they will be unable to retain Rajon Rondo in free agency, which could be noteworthy as the Clippers are rumored to have interest in him. The Lakers are also expected to chase Wesley Matthews in free agency, which makes sense as his starting job in Milwaukee is likely gone with their acquisition of Bogdan Bogdanovic.

Nets Add Bruce Brown

In a much quieter deal, the Brooklyn Nets added a bit of guard depth by swapping little-used forward Dzanan Musa and a second-round pick for Detroit’s Bruce Brown. Brown has started 99 games over the last two seasons for Detroit and the Pistons were better with him on the court than off both years. The pick is Toronto’s 2021 2nd rounder, which figures to be late again, so it doesn’t feel like a particularly great deal for Detroit since they lost a rotation player. Maybe their front office believes in Musa, who is still just 21 years old and was a first-round pick in 2018.

Suns Win Chris Paul Sweepstakes

It’s hard to say what the “big” news was on Monday, since so much happened, but this one is up there. The Phoenix Suns brought closure to the question of how CP3 would get out of Oklahoma City, and to where. In exchange for Paul and Abdel Nader from the Thunder, the Suns sent out Ricky Rubio, Kelly Oubre, Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque, and Phoenix’s 2022 protected 1st round pick.

Many Clippers fans had hoped that Paul would ultimately return to LAC this offseason, but there really wasn’t any way for the team to compete with this offer from Phoenix once the Suns decided to pursue CP3. Even though they weren’t directly involved in this trade–which has already been made official–there are ramifications aplenty for the Clippers. First of all, Rubio seems like a likely candidate for a re-trade, as the rebuilding Thunder have little use for him. He’d be a big-time upgrade for the Clippers in terms of a starting point guard who can create good looks for others, but Oklahoma City has proven that they’re stubborn enough to let veterans hang around until they get a good return, so it’s unclear what the Clippers would have to give up (and what other teams would be going after the veteran point guard).

The Suns’ decision to execute the trade now also eliminates the possibility of them creating a significant amount of cap room to add a free agent, which has ripple effects. It means that the most they can offer a free agent like Danilo Gallinari (or Marcus Morris) is the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, potentially keeping them from outbidding the Clippers for a veteran free agent, but also means that they likely plan on keeping free agents such as Dario Saric, Frank Kaminsky, and Aron Baynes, all of whom could have become Clipper targets if cut loose as LA searches for frontcourt depth to replace Montrezl Harrell. The inclusion of Nader similarly implies that the Suns intend to keep him when the Thunder would not have, taking a minimum-salary wing off of the free agent market.

Perhaps most importantly, the Suns just got a lot better. The Clippers already share the Pacific Division with the reigning champion Los Angeles Lakers and returning-to-health Golden State Warriors, so the addition of a legitimate Suns team could mean that four of the Western Conference’s best five teams play in the Pacific next season. If the NBA emphasizes divisional games in their shortened 2021 schedule, the Pacific will be particularly brutal.

Blazers Land Covington in Wing Upgrade

In a sign that the Houston Rockets might really be blowing it up, they pre-empted the impending superstar trade(s) by selling off one of their top role players to a Western Conference playoff competitor with a serious need at the forward positions. Covington is a really solid two-way player, and probably becomes the best wing to play in Portland during the Damian Lillard era. In return, the Rockets got Trevor Ariza, the 16th pick in Wednesday’s draft, and Portland’s 2021 protected 1st round pick.

It’s hard to place either of these teams right now. The Blazers’ 2019 Western Conference Finals run–and subsequent lost sweep–was a bit flukey, but their sub-.500 2020 was largely due to injuries to key players and a severe lack of options on the wing, which Covington addresses in a big way. The Rockets, on the other hand, have been a conference finalist in recent years and will always be at least decent with James Harden on the roster (which isn’t a guarantee). Are they officially dropping out of the hunt? Are the Blazers good enough to challenge the new top tier in the West? Keep an eye on Trevor Ariza as a potential re-trade or buy-out candidate, now or at the trade deadline.

Jrue Holiday Joins Giannis in Milwaukee

In one of the big shockers of the day, the Milwaukee Bucks officially committed to going all in on an attempt to upgrade their roster and keep Giannis Antetokounmpo, who can leave in free agency next summer if he doesn’t sign a “supermax” extension this off-season. In order to get Holiday, the Bucks paid an incredibly steep price: Eric Bledsoe, George Hill, the 24th pick in Wednesday’s draft, two future Milwaukee first round picks, and two future Milwaukee pick swaps. That’s right: New Orleans got the Paul George package for Jrue Holiday, a very good two-way player who made one All-Star team in 2013 and made the playoffs just twice in six years playing with Anthony Davis.

Squeamishness about the massive draft compensation aside, it’s a wonderful trade for Milwaukee to get a major upgrade at point guard over incumbent Eric Bledsoe. Holiday is a legitimate #3 guy who can average 20 points a game (though he likely won’t as his shots are reduced alongside Giannis and Khris Middleton) and is one of the league’s better defenders.

It’s also a wonderful trade for the Pelicans, who add this stash of assets to the haul they received from the Lakers for Anthony Davis last summer to allow them to build long-term around Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson. Keep your eye on the guard situation in New Orleans–Bledsoe and Hill likely aren’t part of their long-term plans, and the future of Lonzo Ball depends on the Pelicans’ willingness to pay him in restricted free agency next summer. Any of the three could be available over the next couple of weeks.

Bucks Tamper; Sign-and-Trade for Bogdanovic

In a second big upgrade designed to keep Giannis in town, the Bucks are going to add Kings guard Bogdan Bogdanovic in a sign-and-trade deal when the free agency window opens this weekend. To be blunt, this is a flagrant violation of the league’s tampering rules, since teams are not even legally allowed to begin negotiations with free agents until Friday afternoon. I’d be surprised if there wasn’t some serious punishment for the Bucks here. Blocking the move itself is unlikely due to the player’s union standing up for Bogdanovic’s freedom of movement, but financial or draft penalties could be imposed upon the franchise.

In order to execute the trade, D.J. Wilson, Donte DiVincenzo, and Ersan Ilysaova will head to Sacramento. With the Suns getting better, as noted above, the Clippers will take any talent leaving the Pacific, though the Kings still have an interesting collection of young talent.

So, six trades in one day, five of which featured teams that will be good next year adding quality starters. Let’s turn our attention to some other news, even if it isn’t exactly trades.

James Harden Wants Out

Yeah, this is the big one. It’s unclear if this is actually going to happen, but this is definitely more than just rumors:

I’ll wait until a Harden deal actually happens to really think through the ramifications, but one thing to keep an eye on is Spencer Dinwiddie, and LA native who has been connected to the Clippers in some trade rumors. He’d definitely be a part of any Harden trade, though Houston’s willingness to part with him afterwards is unclear. As far as what a Irving-Harden-Durant trio would look like… well, we’ll have to wait and see what the on-court fit looks like, but it certainly wouldn’t be a boring year in Brooklyn.

Bulls Let Dunn, Harrison Hit Free Agency

I gotta be honest here–I have no idea what the Bulls are doing. With 12 guaranteed contracts on the books for next season, two picks in Wednesday’s draft, and three players eligible for restricted free agency, Chicago was always going to have to make some tricky choices to trim down their roster. Kris Dunn, who has become an elite defender but is still atrocious offensively, was probably a coin flip at $7M. The Bulls opted not to extend a qualifying offer, letting him enter unrestricted free agency. At 26 years old, it’s hard to know how much upside he really has left to develop into a complete player. The Clippers were linked to Dunn at last year’s trade deadline, and have been again headed into this free agency period. I’m not really sure what price point or role makes sense for him at this point, but he’s an intriguing option because of his defensive versatility at the guard position.

The Bulls also didn’t extend a $2M qualifying offer to Shaquille Harrison, which is odd as he’s made well-rounded contributions in a rotation role over the last couple of seasons. The 27-year-old can now leave in free agency, and could be a really nice addition to someone’s depth as a 6’7″ guard. They did, however, extend a $4.7M qualifying offer to Denzel Valentine, who looks like a fringe NBA player after missing the entire 2018-19 season and playing an underwhelming 36 games last year. Even if the front office likes Valentine and wants to keep him around, $4.7M is above his market value.

Cauley-Stein Opts In, Lopez Opts Out

In a couple of surprising choices, Willie Cauley-Stein opted in to his $2.3M player option with the Dallas Mavericks next season, while Robin Lopez opted out of his $5M player option with the Milwaukee Bucks. Cauley-Stein wasn’t likely to get a big raise in free agency, but he couldn’t have done worse and could have chosen a new team, while Lopez almost certainly won’t beat a $5M salary on the open market.

Cauley-Stein’s reasoning isn’t clear to me here, and it’s a bit disappointing as he was one of the more intriguing minimum-salary backup centers in this year’s free agent pool. Depending on whether or not the Mavericks want his contract on the books taking up a roster spot, adding him via trade (the Clippers have a small TPE that could absorb him) could still be an option. Lopez, I’m assuming, grew concerned that opting in would result in his $5M expiring being used in one of Milwaukee’s trades and take away his control over what team he played for. Due to acquiring Bogdanovic in a sign-and-trade deal, the Bucks will be hard capped this season, so they would have likely found a way to dump Lopez’s deal. Now, he can sign a new deal anywhere–even back with Milwaukee, which is probably most likely–and control his own destination.

213Hoops is an independently owned and operated L.A. Clippers blog by Clippers fans, for Clippers fans. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at $1 a month and support from readers like you goes a long way towards helping us keep 213Hoops sustainable, growing, and thriving.

Monday’s NBA Trade Recap
Lucas Hann

According a rumor from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the Phoenix Suns are in serious conversations with the Oklahoma City Thunder targeting Chris Paul.

The framework of a deal would start with veteran point guard Ricky Rubio, who Paul would be replacing, and young wing Kelly Oubre Jr., who played well for the Suns last season but was injured during the team’s 8-0 run in the NBA’s Orlando Bubble. It’s unclear exactly how the full offer would come together, but the Suns have the smaller contracts and assets to more easily pull off a stronger offer than other contenders, such as the Clippers, Bucks, Lakers, or Sixers.

Phoenix has the 10th pick in this year’s draft and attractive young pieces like Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson available to sweeten the deal for Oklahoma City, though I’d assume the Thunder would only get one of those three pieces.

The deal wouldn’t stay between Oklahoma City and Phoenix, however. The Thunder’s primary motivation for moving Paul is to save money and recalibrate for their rebuild, so the larger salaries they’d absorb aren’t necessarily for players that interest them. Oubre, who will turn 25 before next season begins, is young enough to be an interesting piece, but his looming payday next summer is a headache the Thunder would rather let another team deal with. His expiring deal means he’d be a perfectly palatable addition to a rather desolate OKC wing corps for one year, but he is probably good enough to yield a return to a third team.

Rubio, on the other hand, offers little utility to the Thunder as they already have Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dennis Schroder established at point guard and will want a younger option than the 30-year old veteran. He’s also owed $17.8M in 2021-22, eating into Oklahoma City’s financial flexibility. It’s not even half what they’d owe to Paul, but if they’re trading an All-NBA player to save money you’d figure they’d want to save as much as possible, which is why when I wrote about a potential Clippers trade for Chris Paul a couple of weeks ago I searched for third teams to take on the two-year contract of Patrick Beverley.

If finding a way to move Rubio for expiring is what this trade hinges on, the Clippers would be a certain candidate to get involved. In terms of expiring contracts, the Clippers could offer Lou Williams and Rodney McGruder, giving Oklahoma City no long-term money and even saving them a few extra million this year. Williams 1-year, $8M deal should also be relatively easy to find takers for around the league given his excellent off-the-bench performances in recent seasons, so there’s potential for the Thunder to recoup additional value and savings by flipping him. It’s unclear if other teams would be interested in Rubio and his contract, but if a bidding war emerges LA would have limited options without future first-round picks at their disposal. Lining up a three-team trade that nets value for Williams could help, along with adding Detroit’s 2023 2nd round pick (the only draft asset with any type of value LAC has). If push comes to shove, Mfiondu Kabengele could go to Oklahoma City to give the Thunder a project big man for a rebuilding year.

Financially, adding Rubio for such a package could hurt the Clippers’ chances of having their full mid-level exception at their disposal, depending on how the free agencies of JaMychal Green and Marcus Morris play out. Moving Patrick Beverley instead of Lou Williams would help in that regard, but his two-year deal negates the motivation for Oklahoma City to work with the Clippers. Finding a suitable landing spot for Beverley that doesn’t require any multi-year salary going back to the Thunder is certainly possible but probably unlikely. Still, Rubio would be a strong enough addition that the Clippers would want to say yes first and deal with their free agency plans later.

Rumor: Suns Targeting Paul, Clippers Could Get Involved
Lucas Hann

Of all the team’s options for reloading headed into next season, a Clippers trade for Chris Paul would have by far the biggest impact. Short of Paul, the team could pursue long-shot deals for upgrade point guards like Jrue Holiday, Ricky Rubio, or Goran Dragic, but would likely be left making some minor moves on the second unit, most importantly replacing Montrezl Harrell at backup center.

If the Clippers are all-in on contending for the 2021 NBA Championship, Paul outshines the other potential additions. He returned to All-NBA form in 2020, being named to the 2nd team, and embraced a new role as the leader of a young, upstart Oklahoma City Thunder team that became the darlings of the NBA as they defied predictions by keeping their team intact and finishing 5th in the Western Conference. Paul is older, with well-documented durability issues, and has a massive contract, but if the Clippers need a facilitating point guard and leadership in the locker room, there are few players in the league who fit the bill like CP3.

It’s that precise combination of age and contract which makes a player with Chris’ on-court impact available in a trade at all. At 35 years old, he’ll make $41,358,814 and turn 36 next season. Then, he has a player option (which he’ll certainly opt in to) for $44,211,146 for the 2021-22 season, when he’ll turn 37 in time for the playoffs. It isn’t unrealistic to expect Paul to still be good through the duration of this deal–after all, he just had an All-NBA season at 35, so even with some expected decline he still figures to make a positive impact at 37. But his age, and both years of his contract, significantly narrow the field of potential trade partners for Oklahoma City, driving Paul’s value down.

Being 35 means only teams that have legitimate title hopes in the next 1-2 years (and a need at point guard, of course) would value Paul. His salary for next season makes the logistics of a trade incredibly difficult, meaning any team would have to give up multiple rotation players to fit him back. To legally take on $41.3M in a trade, any team would have to put together just over $33M in outgoing salary. Good teams don’t have $33 million in expendable parts. Then, Paul’s massive salary for 2021-22 automatically takes any team that acquires him out of the running for free agents next summer. Teams like the Miami Heat or Dallas Mavericks would likely prefer the flexibility to get better long-term over foreclosing those possibilities for the short-term upgrade Paul offers.

When all is said and done, the Clippers aren’t alone as potential Paul landing spots, but they’re one of just a few who really makes sense, along with the Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Philadelphia 76ers. Both LA teams would need some help (a Montrezl Harrell sign-and-trade for the Clippers, free agents opting in for the Lakers) to get the $33 million together. Philadelphia can do so easily, but not without sending the massive, longer-running deal of either Tobias Harris or Al Horford. The Bucks have an easier path to the finances, but could be held back by the commitment to depleting their depth and incurring massive luxury tax bills. Whatever goes down with CP3, it’s not gonna be easy.

Building a Package

Let’s take a look at how a deal could come together for the Clippers. Technically, teams could chase Paul before the free agency window opens and his salary increases from $38.5M in 2019-20 to $41.4M in 2020-21, but it wouldn’t make a huge difference as most players involved in a trade would also be set to have their salaries bump up when the league turns over from the 2020 cap year to the 2021 cap year.

For the Clippers to fit in Paul’s $38.5M in 2020 salary, they’d have to send out $30,725,186. Players who are entering free agency, like Marcus Morris, Montrezl Harrell, Patrick Patterson, and Reggie Jackson are not trade-eligible. JaMychal Green, who has a player option for next season, could be trade-eligible if he commits to opting in to his deal for next year. Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, and Rodney McGruder only add up to $24,975,309. Bridging the gap requires including either 23-year-old starting center Ivica Zubac’s deal, or convincing JaMychal Green to opt in and packaging him with one of the team’s rookie deals: Mfiondu Kabengele, Landry Shamet, or Terance Mann. The Zubac option is a non-starter, and while Green and either Kabengele or Mann might be agreeable for the Clippers, it’s far from a sure thing that JaMychal will opt in, and if he does, the same deal would be workable in free agency as well.

So let’s look at how the Clippers put together the $33M package to add Chris Paul in a trade once free agency opens. Here, again, we’re starting with Beverley, Williams, and McGruder, whose 2021 cap hits add up to $26,525,640. Again, making up the difference becomes tricky, but the Clippers have a few more options here to find the last $6.5M:

• Once again, throwing in Ivica Zubac ($7M) is the easiest for the math but not something the Clippers should be interested in.
• If JaMychal Green does indeed opt in, his 2021 cap hit ($5,005,350) gets the Clippers within striking range, just needing an additional $1.5M from the options below.
• Shamet ($2,090,040), Kabengele ($2,075,880), and Mann ($1,517,981) all offer small amounts of salary filler and sweetener, though the Clippers would be particularly loathe to part with Shamet.

• Joakim Noah becomes a valuable potential filler, with a full minimum salary worth $2,692,991. That salary is non-guaranteed, but only guaranteed salary counts for outgoing trade math. Whatever portion of Noah’s deal the Clippers need to meet that $33M threshold would have to be guaranteed. So, in the example where Green opts in and is included, the Noah’s deal would need to be partially guaranteed for $1.5M and the remaining $1.2M would still be non-guaranteed.

• The door opens for the Clippers to add outgoing salary by signing-and-trading someone away. JaMychal Green (if he opts out), Marcus Morris, and Montrezl Harrell can all be significant factors, although Harrell clearly makes the most sense to be included. Harrell’s outgoing trade value would be limited by Base Year Compensation, a rule that states that if a player receives greater than a 20% raise in a sign-and-trade deal, their outgoing trade value is either their old salary, or half of their new salary, whichever is greater. To complete this deal by himself, Harrell would have to make $13M on his new contract, but if he falls short of that number Noah would be an easy inclusion to square away the finances.

• The Clippers could also look to patch together salary by sign-and-trading Reggie Jackson and/or Patrick Patterson. The team has non-bird rights on both veteran free agents, and can pay each up to around $3 million. Sign-and-trade contracts are required to run for at least 3 years, but only the first season is required to be 100% guaranteed salary. Jackson is unlikely to accept a 3-year, $10M deal, but I could see Patterson doing so. The Thunder (or any other team receiving Patterson) would want to make the last two years non-guaranteed, but taking him on a cheap contract shouldn’t be a dealbreaker if it’s necessary to facilitate a deal this large.

While that outlines a number of options to make the math work, I want to focus on the following package: Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, Rodney McGruder, and a Montrezl Harrell sign-and-trade. If Harrell’s signed to a deal starting at less than $13 million, which is a distinct possibility, Joakim Noah’s deal will be partially guaranteed and included in the trade to make up the difference.

Finding a Deal

Of course, finding a mathematically functional package is a different endeavor than finding a mutually agreeable trade. For the aforementioned package, three separate parties need to sign off: the Clippers, the Thunder, and Montrezl Harrell, who can choose his own destination as a free agent. But since forcing Harrell to go to Oklahoma City isn’t an option and a free agency investment in Harrell likely isn’t a part of OKC’s plans (if they were to come to an agreement, great, but let’s assume that’s unlikely), you’d likely need to involve a third team–whichever team Trez agrees to a contract with–and find a way to make participating worthwhile.

For the Clippers, the goal is clear: acquire Chris Paul insofar as he helps your odds of winning a title next season. The Thunder, presumably, want to save money and stockpile assets to continue to turbocharge their rebuild. After breaking down their 2019 team by trading Paul George to the Clippers for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a package of draft picks, and then taking two first-rounders from the Houston Rockets to eat Chris Paul’s contract in exchange for Russell Westbrook, the money should be a little more important than the assets. After all, Paul doesn’t have a ton of trade value due to his aforementioned age and contract, so flipping him for savings would be a huge win for the Thunder after the Rockets gave up two picks to dump his contract.

McGruder and Williams (and Noah) fit the bill perfectly. They’re on cheap contracts in 2020-21, with Williams expiring next off-season and McGruder non-guaranteed (essentially giving them a $5M team option). I doubt that Lou would ever actually play for the Thunder, but he’d be easy to re-trade and could even net them some value. If Noah is included, his partially-guaranteed minimum salary deal for next season is a perfectly acceptable cost when weighed against the 8-figure savings of moving Paul. Harrell would head to a third team, as discussed above. The sticking point could be Patrick Beverley–a quality 32-year-old veteran role player who isn’t valuable to a rebuilding team and is owed $13.3M in 2020-21 and $14.3M in 2021-22. His deal still represents massive savings next off-season compared to Paul, but it’s probably less than ideal for the Thunder.

Finally, there’s the question of adding value to sweeten the deal for Oklahoma City. Chris Paul, at 35 years old and on his current contract, isn’t bringing back the kind of assets that Paul George did last summer, but the Thunder will still certainly work any angle they can to add value so that they aren’t trading away their best player solely for monetary reasons. Let’s take a look at how the Clippers can address each of these issues.

Montrezl Harrell Sign-and-Trades

Trez is going to go where he wants to go–that’s his right as an unrestricted free agent. It’s up to the Clippers to talk with the teams he’s talking to to see if the framework for a sign-and-trade agreement could be mutually beneficial. If Harrell’s new team wants to execute the transaction that way, he should go along with it, but the Clippers have to make it worth their while.

To a certain extent, this is a waiting game. Lawrence Frank and company are just going to have to wait and see who Harrell draws interest from, and be quick on their feet in constructing creative three-team trades that everyone can be happy with. While free agency can be unpredictable, I’ll narrow in on a few potential/likely Harrell suitors to show what the framework looks like:

• Charlotte: The Hornets were suggested as a landing spot for Trez in a 3-team CP3 trade by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, and it makes a lot of sense. They’re incredibly low on talent and in desperate need of quality players to round out a rotation and put forth a respectable effort next season as they try to turn the franchise around. Trez can help win regular season games, and he’d bring a much-needed infusion of offensive energy to a squad that finished 30th in points per game, 30th in pace, and 29th in offensive rating last year. They shouldn’t shy away from outbidding other teams for his services now that his value figures to fall in the mid-teens, and he’d have the chance to star in his hometown with guaranteed minutes and touches.
  
  So, let’s say the Hornets want Trez and Trez accepts their offer. Where does a sign-and-trade come in? Charlotte has the cap room to simply sign Harrell outright. But they also have a deal they’d love to move off of their books: Nicolas Batum’s 27M expiring. Batum barely played last season and even if Charlotte doesn’t need to move his deal for cap flexibility, turning that money into some on-court utility and freeing up space to pursue high-upside free agents would benefit them. Batum’s deal would go to Oklahoma City, where he’d provide huge savings compared to Paul, and Beverley, Williams, and McGruder (and potentially Noah) would be split between the Thunder and Hornets.
  
  Similar to with the Thunder, it’s hard to see Williams playing in Charlotte next season. But McGruder’s contract is inoffensive for a replacement-level backup wing (he might actually be in their rotation next year), and Beverley would provide veteran leadership and a defensive-minded guard to complement the Hornet’s offensive-minded duo of Terry Rozier and Devonte’ Graham. Compared to signing Harrell outright and keeping Batum, a McGruder/Beverley pair would be a huge utility upgrade from Batum at a much cheaper cost–though Pat’s guaranteed salary in 2021-22 could again be a sticking point.

• Atlanta: The Hawks, like the Hornets, fit the mold of a team with plentiful cap space to sign Harrell outright, but they also have a deal they’d rather dump if they got the chance. At the trade deadline, the Sacramento Kings gave Atlanta two second-round picks to take on a little extra money by eating the contract of backup center Dewayne Dedmon, who is due to make $13,333,333 in 2020-21 but has just $1 million in guaranteed salary for 2021-22. If the Hawks are pursuing Harrell, then Dedmon clearly isn’t in their future plans, and while paying him to ride the bench for a year and then cutting him next summer isn’t horrible, they’d much rather get rid of that big salary now.
  
  Because the Hawks have so much cap flexibility, they can take back as much money as they want in this trade, so it will be up to the Clippers and Thunder to identify what pieces of LA’s package OKC wants, and who Atlanta is willing to take on. Williams likely isn’t going to play for a losing team, so the Thunder should hold on to him so they can get any value that is to be found from re-trading him. But as with Charlotte, McGruder is a potential rotation piece for Atlanta on an inoffensive contract and Beverley would be a valuable addition as a leader and defensive complement to Trae Young–though Atlanta could balk at adding his salary for 2021-22 if they’re hoping on luring a star free agent to play with Trae next year.
  
  Even if the Hawks don’t want McGruder or Beverley, just sending Harrell to Atlanta in exchange for Dedmon heading to OKC would save the Hawks money and allow the Clippers-Thunder trade to proceed legally.

• New York: I have no idea what the Knicks are going to do this off-season, but they’re a team that’s bad enough to not be bothered by his playoff struggles, talent-starved enough to sell themselves on his offensive firepower, and thin enough at center that there’d be a role for him splitting time with youngster Mitchell Robinson.
  
  What the Knicks don’t have is the kind of big, dead-weight deal that Charlotte and Atlanta have. Julius Randle has a big deal for next season, but he’s the Knicks’ best player and they wouldn’t want to dump him. Bobby Portis’ $15.75M for next season is a team option, so the Knicks can simply decline their option if they don’t want to pay him. Veterans Taj Gibson, Elfrid Payton, and Wayne Ellington have medium-sized deals ($8M each for Payton and Ellington, $9.45M for Gibson) that carry just $1M guarantees.
  
  I expect the Knicks to keep Payton around, but they could cut Gibson and/or Ellington, particularly if they are chasing after multiple free agents (like Harrell and Toronto’s Fred VanVleet, for example). In that case, flipping Gibson and/or Ellington to OKC in a three-team Harrell sign-and-trade would save them the $1M on those deals. It won’t have a big impact, but you’d always rather avoid situations where you’re paying guys to not play for you. Adding one or both of those contracts would also be advantageous for OKC, since they would be able to waive them for just $1M guaranteed each, saving them a lot more money than taking on Batum or Dedmon.
  
  The Knicks have nothing to lose by accepting Harrell in a sign-and-trade deal instead of signing him outright, but they’ll realize that they have a lot of leverage in this situation and likely demand more than just $1-2M in savings to facilitate this deal. A second-rounder would be a fair cost, and it would likely come from the Clippers–either their own 2022 2nd or perhaps the 2023 Detroit 2nd that LAC owns.

Patrick Beverley

The one player holding the Clippers back from offering the Thunder an all-expiring package for Paul and totally clearing their books for the 2021 off-season is Beverley. The question is how much of a deal-breaker that becomes for OKC, or any third team that might add him instead.

The Thunder, after all, will have only rookie deals on their books after next season. If they don’t commit long-term money to anyone this summer, they’re looking at more than two max salary slots for 2021 free agency. In fact, even Beverley’s $14.3M deal wouldn’t interfere with their ability to have double max space. And the Thunder–no offense–aren’t at a place in their rebuild where you’d figure they’re a year away from luring free agent superstars. It’s more likely that they’ll work to keep their talented youth on team-friendly deals, add short-term veterans to round out their rotation and keep the team competitive on a nightly basis, and use their money to absorb unwanted contracts from other teams in exchange for assets. In that case, Beverley is far from interfering with their plans.

If the Thunder are adamant about not taking him, there’s a perfectly decent chance that any team that executes a sign-and-trade for Harrell will be willing to absorb Pat. After all, Hornets could fit Beverley in without adding team salary if they’re moving Batum, and the Hawks and Knicks both have more than enough cap space. All three teams are in need of quality rotation players. The Hawks and Knicks might not want to compromise their dreams of pursuing big-name free agents next year, but Beverley wouldn’t impede their ability to open a max slot unless they take on other long-term money this off-season. The Hornets aren’t going to be players in free agency and they have such enormous flexibility next year that Pat wouldn’t impact any potential pursuit.

If the Clippers find themselves in a situation where Beverley is a sticking point for both teams they’re working with in a 3-team Harrell-CP3 trade, then they’ll have to get creative. The easiest avenue would likely be finding a team that does want Beverley, and then lining up a subsequent trade for whoever ends up with Pat in this trade to flip him to that team. There are options out there–including some of the teams we’ve already talked about.

Notably, the Sacramento Kings wanted Beverley last off-season (albeit under a prior front office regime) and instead settled for Corey Joseph. The Kings don’t have 2021 free agency aspirations, and Beverley would be a nice upgrade for their rotation to give them a veteran defender behind De’Aaron Fox and Bogdan Bogdanovic. Frankly, I buy Beverley’s ability to help out the Hawks, Hornets, and Knicks enough that the two of them who aren’t involved in this three-team deal could be options. The Chicago Bulls would do well to get a hometown player in Beverley to stabilize their point guard position, sending back veteran forward Thaddeus Young’s contract that is only partially guaranteed for 2021-22. There should be teams interested in Bev, even if you aren’t going to get much back for him.

Adding Value

If all of those hurdles are cleared–if Harrell agrees to contract terms with a team that would benefit from a sign-and-trade, and a three-team deal gets worked out with either OKC or the 3rd team agreeing to take on Beverley, or a second trade being lined up to flip Beverley for an expiring contract–then we can finally get to the point of the conversation where we ask: is OKC getting enough back?

The Thunder are not in a position to drive a hard bargain here. They’ll save dozens of millions of dollars in a deal with this framework, clearing the decks for GM Sam Presti to have unmatched flexibility as he tries to craft a winner out of his collection of assets. And while the Clippers are certainly getting the best player in the trade, they’re losing their starting point guard, twin sixth men who each averaged 18 points a game last year, and a veteran depth wing who was a rotation guy for most of last season.

For the Clippers, adding substantial additional value to the deal makes building a roster untenable. Just as I said Ivica Zubac’s inclusion was a dealbreaker as he’s a cost-controlled 23-year-old starter, it’s really, really hard to think the Clippers would include Landry Shamet in a deal here, unless perhaps a rival like the Lakers was somehow able to put together a legitimately better package and Shamet was needed to win OKC over in a bidding war. If Shamet was included, LAC would lose 5 members of last season’s 10-man rotation for one 35-year-old starter with a history of injuries, and they’d have just the taxpayer mid-level exception to add one player.

With Shamet and Green staying, the Clippers can use the taxpayer MLE on a a solid 8th man and round out the rotation through a combination of prospects competing with veterans on minimum deals.

If the breaking point here is one of the other young Clippers, like Terance Mann, Mfiondu Kabengele, or a new rookie they select in the second round of the 2020 NBA Draft, you probably accept that Presti will need the pot sweetened a bit. The Clippers can’t trade a first-round pick–OKC already has them all–but they do have all of their own 2nd rounders starting in 2022 and Detroit’s 2023 2nd, as mentioned above.

The best chance to add draft assets to this deal, though, would be to find it in the existing package. Lou Williams doesn’t make sense for a Thunder team that has Dennis Schroder, and a rebuilding OKC franchise doesn’t make sense for the 34-year-old Williams. He can help a good team, though, just like he has been crucial to the Clippers’ attack in recent years. What kind of asset could a good team be persuaded to part with in order to land Lou?

Without doing a comprehensive look around the league, a reunion with Doc Rivers on the Philadelphia 76ers makes a ton of sense. The Sixers desperately need a guard who can create perimeter offense and have very limited flexibility to pursue one. A package of Mike Scott and Norvel Pelle would allow Philly to take back Lou’s salary, and then it’s a matter of negotiating value. The Sixers could trade their 2021 1st round pick (with protections in case they miss the playoffs), basically giving a pick in the 20s up to add Williams now. Or, their war chest of 2nd round picks would allow them to give the Thunder a couple–including a valuable pick swap deal that will give the Sixers the best out of of Charlotte, Atlanta, and Brooklyn’s 2nd in 2023. The exact details of the compensation would likely hinge on what other offers Presti (or Frank, calling around in advance to pitch Presti) can procure for Williams. Like the suggested Beverley deals, a Lou re-trade would make the most sense as a separate trade without further complicating the original 3-team deal.

Scenarios

To simplify things, let me draw out the frameworks of the suggested trades made in this column:

LAC – OKC – CHA 3-team trade

LAC gets: Chris Paul
LAC gives: Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, Rodney McGruder, Montrezl Harrell (sign-and-trade), Joakim Noah (if needed, pending Harrell’s new salary)
LAC rationale: The Clippers sacrifice depth, but add a legitimate third star and floor general, while holding on to enough to still have a strong 8-man rotation next post-season.

OKC gets: Nicolas Batum, Lou Williams
OKC gives: Chris Paul
OKC rationale: The Thunder save $6M in 2020-21 salary and an astounding $44 million in 2021-22 salary. Williams’ expiring is also a valuable asset for good teams looking to add a scoring punch, especially since players of his caliber won’t be available at that price point in free agency without committing multiple years of salary and compromising 2021 free agency.

CHA gets: Patrick Beverley, Rodney McGruder, Montrezl Harrell (sign-and-trade)
CHA gives: Nicolas Batum
CHA rationale: This deal assumes the Hornets wanted to sign Montrezl Harrell anyway, so in essence the trade is Beverley and McGruder for Batum. As long as Beverley’s 2021-22 salary isn’t a big issue–and it shouldn’t be, since Charlotte isn’t a free agent destination and would likely be able to flip his deal if they needed to anyway–it’s an absolute no-brainer to save money and add useful players.

LAC – OKC – ATL 3-team trade

LAC gets: Chris Paul
LAC gives: Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, Rodney McGruder, Montrezl Harrell (sign-and-trade), Joakim Noah (if needed, pending Harrell’s new salary)
LAC rationale: Same as above.

OKC gets: Dewayne Dedmon, Lou Williams, Patrick Beverley (maybe), Rodney McGruder (maybe)
OKC gives: Chris Paul
OKC rationale: Same as above–they save a little money this year, a boatload of money next year, and get to flip Lou Williams for potential additional savings and/or assets. Plus, if they don’t want Beverley and/or McGruder and Atlanta does, the Hawks have the cap room to absorb one or both of those contracts and potentially create huge additional savings for the Thunder.

ATL gets: Montrezl Harrell (sign-and-trade), Patrick Beverley (maybe), Rodney McGruder (maybe)
ATL gives: Dewayne Dedmon
ATL rationale: Again, this assumes the Hawks were going to sign Harrell anyway, so getting rid of Dedmon’s money is a nice free salary dump. Plus, if they want Beverley and/or McGruder, they’d have the opportunity to add rotation players for free to help OKC save more money.

LAC – OKC – NYK 3-team trade

LAC gets: Chris Paul
LAC gives: Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, Rodney McGruder, Montrezl Harrell (sign-and-trade), Joakim Noah (if needed, pending Harrell’s new salary), 2nd round pick
LAC rationale: Same as above.

OKC gets: Taj Gibson and/or Etwaun Moore, Lou Williams, Patrick Beverley (maybe), Rodney McGruder (maybe)
OKC gives: Chris Paul
OKC rationale: Same as above–marginal short-term savings, big savings next year, flipping Lou for assets, and potentially passing Beverley and/or McGruder along to NYK for more savings. Plus, the low guarantees on Gibson and Moore’s contracts could allow OKC additional savings, pending timing on the trade and guarantee dates in the re-scheduled free agency.

Patrick Beverley re-trade to Sacramento

[Team X] gets: Corey Joseph
[Team X] gives: Patrick Beverley
[Team X] rationale: Whoever ends up with Pat’s two-year contract, whether it’s OKC, Atlanta, Charlotte, or New York, might choose to flip him for a downgrade at backup guard in exchange for the additional flexibility afforded by Joseph’s deal, which is guaranteed for just $1 million next season.

SAC gets: Patrick Beverley
SAC gives: Corey Joseph
SAC rationale: Beverley is an upgrade over Joseph, and this is one of what could be several moves the Kings make where acknowledging that 2021 cap room won’t do them any good allows them to win trades with teams who are looking to free up 2021 room of their own. Sacramento won’t make shortsighted deals, but Beverley’s contract is far from an albatross and is just one year away from being a valuable expiring they can re-trade, just like Joseph’s now.

Lou Williams re-trade to Philadelphia

OKC gets: Mike Scott, Norvel Pelle, PHI 2021 1st (top 20 protected, rolls over to 2 2nds)
OKC gives: Lou Williams
OKC rationale: The rebuilding Thunder cash in on a 34-year-old veteran who doesn’t want to play on a lottery team, adding a late 1st round pick in next year’s draft to their war chest.

PHI gets: Lou Williams
PHI gives: Mike Scott, Norvel Pelle, PHI 2021 1st (top 20 protected, rolls over to 2 2nds)
PHI rationale: The Sixers’ stars are still young, but they’ve been dysfunctional enough that another underwhelming season with a newly-hired, respected head coach would likely mean it’s time to go in a new direction. They’ll want to give themselves the best possible chance to succeed this year, and Williams is a player that Doc Rivers is familiar with who addresses a major need. If it works out, a pick in the 20s next year is a small price to pay. If it doesn’t, it’ll only cost them 2 2nds. The Sixers could try to haggle by just giving 2 2nds outright and not bothering with protecting the 1st, and it’s possible that deal gets done too.

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Can the Clippers trade for Chris Paul?
Lucas Hann

Recently, to celebrate the NBA’s 74 years of existence (and, really, to fill the pages while sports are on hold), ESPN put out a list ranking the 74 greatest players in NBA history.

Normally, I don’t care much for these things, but after seeing a friend of mine who covers another of the NBA’s less-accomplished franchises remark that his team had no players in the top 74 side-by-side with Magic Johnson’s tweet lauding the Lakers for having six of the top ten players, I decided to take a glimpse at the Clippers on the list. At first, you might assume that LAC, who has never made a conference finals and experienced very little success, wouldn’t be well-represented, but there are actually seven players on the list who at one point wore the uniform of either the Buffalo Braves, San Diego Clippers, or L.A. Clippers (plus two executives, Elgin Baylor and Jerry West).

Of course, the Lakers and the Celtics are all over the list, with 17 and 16 players chosen, but even the teams with lesser selections seem to reflect major high points for the franchise. The Clippers’ selections, however, speak to the team’s long-running history of what-ifs, on the fringe of relevance. Let’s take a look at the seven players chosen:

59. Bob McAdoo: The team’s lowest-ranked player on the list, McAdoo was one of the few major stars of league history who actually had his best years with the franchise. Playing for the Buffalo Braves, McAdoo made three consecutive All-Star games from 1974-76, scoring over 30 points per game in each season and winning the 1975 NBA Most Valuable Player award. The Braves were also good during those three years. In ’74 and ’75, they lost in the first round, first to the eventual Champion Boston Celtics led by John Havlicek, and then to Wes Unseld, Elvin Hayes, and the eventual NBA Finalist Washington Bullets. In 1976, they made it to the second round, beating the Philadelphia 76ers before losing again to the Boston Celtics, who would go on to win yet another NBA title.

54. Paul Pierce: The Clippers, for a variety of reasons including a favorable location, have attracted a handful of well-past-their-prime big names over their history. Pierce, making a Los Angeles homecoming and reuniting with his championship coach Doc Rivers, brought a level of excitement when he signed with LAC on a cheap deal in July 2015. Everyone knew he was no longer an All-Star caliber player, but he was fresh off of shooting 39% from three and making clutch shots for the Washington Wizards. Unfortunately, he was awful in L.A., and his relationship with Rivers meant Clippers fans were forced to endure watching one of the worst players of the Lob City era start 38 games and make an additional 30 appearances off of the bench in 2015-16. He was bad enough that even Rivers had to remove him from the rotation in 2016-17 before his eventual retirement. Pierce’s short Clipper tenure was not only a costly misuse of limited financial resources to put talent around the Lob City core, but also a tragic firsthand look at a Hall of Famer who stayed in the league after his ability to contribute to a team had faded.

48. Bill Walton: On a list of “what-ifs” for one of the most tortured franchises in American professional sports, Walton may represent the greatest opportunity in franchise history that was squandered due to bad injury luck. The Hall of Fame center, who was born just outside of San Diego and won two national championships at UCLA, was set to return home to the San Diego Clippers after being drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers. He had won the 1977 NBA Championship (including a Western Conference Finals sweep of the Lakers where Walton matched up with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and was named Finals MVP. The next year, he won the 1978 NBA MVP. After missing the entire 1978-79 season due to injury, he signed with the Clippers, marking a free agent signing with a comparable magnitude to last summer’s acquisition of Kawhi Leonard.

Then, things fell apart. Walton played just 14 games in the 1980 season and did not make a single appearance in the ’80-’81 or ’81-’82 campaigns. When he returned to (partial) health and played 154 games across the next three seasons, he wasn’t himself anymore. To add insult to injury, this was when NBA teams were still required to compensate teams when acquiring their free agents–meaning the Clippers sent a top-10 draft pick, starting power forward Kermit Washington, and rotation center Kevin Kunnert to sign Walton, who essentially did not play for three years. Overall, despite the potential offered by signing a recent Finals MVP and regular season MVP, the Clippers didn’t even make the playoffs once during Walton’s six-year tenure. It was only salt in the wound for Clippers fans, who were in the midst of a franchise-long 15-year playoff drought, that Walton bookended his time with San Diego/L.A. by winning a second championship as a backup with the Boston Celtics the year after departing Southern California.

46. Dominique Wilkins: Growing up a Clipper fan, I knew who ‘Nique was as an NBA legend, but I actually didn’t learn until later that he had (briefly) played for my favorite team. Wilkins’ legacy as a Hall of Famer and legendary two-time Slam Dunk Contest champion came with the Hawks, of course, but it was strange for me as a kid to even imagine a player with such historical stature ever suiting up for LAC. In truth, Wilkins was still quite good when he wore the Clippers’ uniform, averaging 29 points and 7 rebounds. But after acquiring him in a mid-season trade, the Clippers won just 8 of the 25 games he played in (they were 19-38 before his arrival, so it was hardly his fault), and he quickly departed the next summer, making his Clipper tenure nothing more than a footnote.

40. Chris Paul: It’s entirely possible that down the line, with a couple of decades of space between us and Lob City, the Chris Paul era of Clippers basketball will feel slightly less disappointing. Paul, of course, was individually epic, playing six seasons of his prime in L.A. and earning appearances on three All-NBA First Teams, two All-NBA Second Teams, and all six All-Defensive First Teams. But you all know the story of how those teams went: championship aspirations (and internal expectations) were consistently undercut by gut-wrenching injuries and collapses. Paul and his running mate, Blake Griffin, consistently missed or played injured in the post-season, and two epic playoff collapses shattered the teams’ psyche.

In the second round of Rivers’ first year as coach in 2014, the Clippers were tied 2-2 had a 7-point lead with 49 seconds to play in game 5 on the road against Oklahoma City. The Thunder, who trailed by as much as 13 in the quarter, closed on a 17-3 run to win the game by 1 point. The disastrous run included Paul turning the ball over up 2 with 14 seconds left as he attempted to draw a 3-shot shooting foul instead of accepting a 2-shot intentional foul, fouling poor three-point shooter Russell Westbrook on a three-point attempt with 6 seconds to play and a 2-point lead, and then losing the ball on the Clippers’ final possession as he attempted to win. It only hurt morale more that in these closing seconds, the Clippers were harmed repeatedly by the referees–the non-call on Paul’s first turnover, a botched out of bounds review when Matt Barnes stripped Reggie Jackson after that turnover, the phantom foul called on Paul that sent Westbrook to the line, and an uncalled reach-in foul on Jackson that resulted in Paul’s final turnover. The next year, the Clippers made the second round again, winning a road game 1 with Paul hurt after his heroic, hobbled game 7 buzzer-beater against the Spurs in round 1. They’d go on to take a 3-1 lead against the Rockets before the wheels came off in game 6, where the Clippers blew a 19-point lead and lost the fourth quarter 40-15 at home, including 29 points from Corey Brewer and Josh Smith and not a single second of court time for James Harden.

It feels easy to say, after his six-year tenure, that Chris Paul is the greatest Clipper of all time, as he led the team to its most successful era and is the highest-ranked player to have an extended tenure with the team. But it also feels noteworthy that his time in L.A. seemed to be marked by frequent disappointment and rare successes. Maybe the team was never quite as good as the hype suggested, or maybe poor front office management held back a title-worthy core, or maybe they simply had a couple of years’ worth of bad injury and on-court luck. It’s likely that Paul’s own intense personality contributed to the team’s mental baggage following their playoff collapses, making him the rare all-time great who is still met by his team’s fanbase with never-ending what-ifs.

25. Kawhi Leonard: After perhaps the most depressing entry on this list, here’s the one with the most hope: Leonard, the reigning NBA Finals MVP with the Toronto Raptors in 2019, chose to leave his northern throne and return home to Los Angeles in free agency. Most notably, both Los Angeles teams had salary cap space and championship-caliber rosters with which to recruit him, and he chose the Clippers over the storied Lakers. But windows of opportunity are fleeting, and the Clippers seem on the cusp of another horrific what-if, as the season’s unprecedented suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with Leonard’s degenerative quad injury and choice to sign a short contract that only guaranteed LA two years of contending with him, makes a disappointing tenure terrifyingly popular.

Still, like I said: hope. Kawhi’s injury might cause him to miss some regular season games, but that load management is helping him ensure that he can be a top-level playoff performer as he was for Toronto last year. The 2020 playoffs haven’t been canceled yet, and even if they are, the Clippers would be able to keep the best team in franchise history intact for the 2021 season. And if Kawhi wanted to be a Clipper badly enough in July 2019 to walk away from the defending champions and turn down LeBron James and Anthony Davis, there’s no compelling reason yet to believe he’d be a major flight risk in July 2021.

18. Moses Malone: Like ‘Nique, it’s easy to forget that Malone was ever a part of the franchise. After starring in the ABA and then being drafted by Portland in the summer of 1976 following the league’s merger with the NBA, the Trail Blazers traded Malone to the Buffalo Braves for a first-round pick. After just two games (and only six minutes played) with the Braves, Malone was on the move again: this time, to Houston for two first-round picks. His six minutes in Buffalo were followed by six years in Houston, where he won two of his three NBA MVP awards and began a string of 12 straight All-Star selections. He won a championship and Finals MVP with Philadelphia in 1983, and after 19 NBA seasons he is all over the league’s career leaderboards: 2nd in free throws attempted and 4th in made (8,531 and 11,090), 1st in offensive rebounds (6731, and he led the league eight times), 5th in total rebounds (16,212), 9th in points (27,409), 26th in blocks (1733). An NBA career that began with six minutes in Buffalo would feature a title, three MVP awards, eight All-NBA selections, and a Hall of Fame selection. Buffalo traded him for two draft picks they would never use, trading one for big man George Johnson and then packaging Johnson, the other pick, and an additional draft pick package for Tiny Archibald (who never played for the team due to an Achilles injury).

The Archibald wrinkle makes for another twist to the Malone what-if: the Braves not only quickly traded away one of the best players in league history, but they used those assets to eventually acquire another Hall of Famer who would never play for the team due to injury. When the Braves re-traded him to the Boston Celtics in August 1978 (as part of a massive franchise swap between the two teams’ owners that led to former Celtics owner Irv Levin moving the Braves to San Diego and selling the team to Donald Sterling in 1981), they didn’t get a player nearly his caliber in return, and Archibald went on to win a title with the Celtics while Bill Walton was sitting on SDC’s injured reserve list.

Which of these legendary Clippers (or, legends who happened to be Clippers) had the most compelling story? Do you have any memories of these players’ time with Buffalo, San Diego, or L.A., or thoughts on how they were ranked by ESPN (and who was excluded)? Let us know in the comments below.

The Clippers’ appearances on ESPN’s Top 74 list are a series of what-ifs
Lucas Hann

We’re back once again. To recap, in Part 1 we talked about the fun upstart Clippers of the early 2000’s, and the Clippers’ 2005-06 playoff run.  And in Part 2 we talked about the painful (but hopeful) rebuilding years, and the long journey back to the playoffs.

It’s Going to be Lob City

2011-12

In the summer of 2011, the league underwent negotiations with the players for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, and by the time that was settled, we were left with a shortened 66-game season beginning in December 2011. But during that off-season, the Clippers made a blockbuster trade: The Clippers traded Gordon, Kaman, Aminu, and a 1st round pick to New Orleans for Chris Paul, arguably the league’s best two-way point guard. Blake and DeAndre were heard celebrating and coined the nickname “Lob City” for this team. (I still haven’t watched the video of Eric Gordon finding out he was traded while hosting a fan-event on a bus, because he is/was one of my favorite Clippers of all time, and I just… can’t.)

The Lakers had attempted to trade for Paul earlier, but with no team owner for New Orleans, the NBA played the role and turned down the trade. So nabbing CP3 was truly a monumental victory for the Clippers. The Clippers also added veterans Caron Butler, Chauncey Billups, Kenyon Martin and Nick Young (at the deadline) that season, giving them tremendous talent and experience. 

Chris Paul was as great as advertised—for me he was even better than advertised—and he took the Clippers to another level. The free-flowing but chaotic brand of basketball that Baron Davis orchestrated was replaced by Chris Paul’s incredibly cerebral and meticulous playing style—and it was far more effective. The Clippers lived up to their nickname and naturally led the league in dunks, including the one where Blake Mozgov’d Kendrick Perkins into oblivion, and for the first time since 1978 they put 2 players on the All Star team. The Clippers finished the 2011-12 season 40-26 (50-win pace) and finally returned to the playoffs! In the 2012 playoffs, the Clippers faced the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies were a tough, physical competitor, and it took what was the second largest comeback in NBA playoff history (thanks Swaggy) to defeat them in 7 games. But then the Clippers ran into a red-hot San Antonio Spurs team that had won 14 straight coming into the series, and were quickly swept as the Clippers were both out-played and out-coached.

2012-13

The following summer, the Clippers traded for Lamar Odom and Willie Green, and signed Jamal Crawford, Grant Hill, Matt Barnes, Ronny Turiaf, and Ryan Hollins. This would be one of the greatest Clipper benches ever assembled, which would earn the nickname A Tribe Called Bench (it’s still so awkward and forced but whatever you know you love it). Everyone’s numbers dipped slightly because there was so much wealth to be shared.

Finally, the Clippers were top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Aside from Chauncey Billups, who went down with a torn Achilles, the Clippers managed to stay mostly healthy and finished with a 56-26 record, a franchise record at the time. Teams just couldn’t handle the initial punch of the Clippers’ starting lineup of CP3, Griffin, Jordan, Butler, and Billups/Green and their deliberately surgical style of play, only for it to be followed up by a hay-maker bench unit of Bledsoe, Crawford, Barnes, Odom, and Turiaf/Hollins and their hyper-aggressive style on both ends of the court. 

For many Clipper fans, this was their favorite season of the Lob City era. The team seemed to be perfectly in tune with one another, the locker room was packed with players’ kids, and the game just looked easy. DeAndre put the league on notice that he was one of its best dunkers, at the unfortunate expense of Brandon Knight. The team even had a stretch where they won 17 straight, including all 16 games in the month of December (only the 3rd time a month has ever been won in NBA history), eliciting this gem from Ty Lawson, as some fans may remember. 

The season had so many memorable moments, and the Clippers won their first division title. But toward the end of the season, the Clippers lost the groove they were in earlier in the season, and ended the season on an 8-8 stretch, as cold as any team in the playoffs. In the first round, the Clippers were once again matched against the Memphis Grizzlies, who they’d beat 3-1 during the season, but after winning the first 2 games of the series at home, the Clippers rattled off 4 straight losses, with Blake only playing 14 minutes in the final game on a bum ankle.

The team entered the off-season with tons of question marks. After peaking in December, what more could this team do to turn the corner and truly ascend to the next level?

2013-14

Well, the Clippers did make one big change: their coach. It was felt that championship caliber leadership was needed, and so the Clippers traded a 1st round pick to the Celtics for coach Doc Rivers. Known to be both a player’s coach and a wizard with out-of-timeout plays, Doc was seen as the key to getting the Clippers a championship. 

This was enough to convince Chris Paul to stay (also the Clippers could offer a lot more money than anyone else), so he was re-signed to a max contract. Additionally, the Clippers decided to take another look at their roster. Bledsoe had a great season and was due for a payday, so they included him and Butler in a trade to Milwaukee that netted the Clippers sharp-shooting J.J. Redick and 3-and-D small forward Jared Dudley. 

The change was immediately noticeable—the starting lineup became one of the strongest in the league. J.J.’s instincts as a shooter lined up perfectly with Chris’ expectations for where he was supposed to be, and the two were frequently in sync to free-up J.J. for wide open shots. Barnes and Dudley split the starting small forward role, and Jamal continued to be dynamite off the bench, winning his second 6th man of the year award. Despite Chris missing 20 games with minor injuries, the Clippers sported the #1 offense in the league, while remaining top 10 on the defensive end, and cruising to a 57-25 record, another new franchise record.  However: t-shirt jerseys.

The 2014 playoffs started with a first round matchup against the Golden State Warriors. The Clippers barely lost game 1, before blowing out the Warriors by 40 in game 2 (a franchise record), and barely escaping with a win in game 3. 

The day after game 3, the earth cracked open and a major shift began. The Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling, arguably the worst owner in sports and one of the most disgusting and toxic humans in the entire world, was recorded making racist comments to his personal assistant. 

In game 4, the Clippers silently protested during pre-game warm-ups, but ultimately got blown out by Steph Curry’s absurdly hot shooting. Then, before game 5, Donald Sterling was formally banned from the NBA.  At game 5, a home game, black t-shirts had been given to all of the fans that read, “We are one” representing the unity between the team and the fans in removing Sterling from our collective lives. I was at the game, and when the sold-out Staples Center chanted in unison, it was something special.

It was a turbulent time for Clipper fans and for the team, and Doc Rivers was instrumental in leading us all through the storm. So when the Clippers finally won in game 7, you could see the weight being lifted off of Doc Rivers’ shoulders as he pumped his fist in the air and shouted, “YES!”

In the second round of the playoffs, the Clippers were able to move past the Sterling drama, and focus on their next opponent: the Oklahoma City Thunder. The series went back and forth, with each team stealing a game on the road, which led us to game 5.

Game 5 was a close contest that went down to the wire. With 49 seconds left, the Clippers led by 7. Durant quickly knocked down a 3, cutting the lead to 4 with 44 seconds left. Jamal Crawford barely missed a layup, the Thunder got the rebound, and Durant scored in transition, cutting the lead to 2 with 18 seconds left. 

FREAK OCCURRENCE ALERT

Chris Paul, known for having one of the best assist-turnover ratios of any point guard in the history of the NBA turned it over at half-court, and the ball got to Reggie Jackson on the break before Matt Barnes prevented the layup by knocking the ball out of bounds.

Or did he? See for yourself.

Video replays had only recently been added for such plays, and the replay clearly showed the ball went off of Reggie Jackson’s hand last. But in a double freak occurrence, the officiating staff decided to award the ball to Oklahoma City. In the end, the Clippers shouldn’t have blown such a large lead—but then again, they didn’t really blow the entire lead, since that was supposed to be our ball.

The Clippers, deflated by the game 5 loss, went on to lose the series in 6 games. Season over.

2014-15

That summer, the Clippers were bought by Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft, worth upwards of $51 billion, making him the wealthiest owner in the NBA. But more importantly, this was a man who was incredibly passionate about basketball, having wanted to purchase a team for years. Ballmer owning the team would complete the Clippers’ transformation from a franchise that was the butt of every joke to an upstart franchise destined for greatness.

The Clippers also signed Spencer Hawes, a stretch center, as they felt they needed more flexibility at the center position (spoiler: Manbun Hawes would not provide that flexibility, or really anything). After only one season, the disappointing Jared Dudley experiment was over, costing the Clippers a 1st round pick to dump him—Dudley would later explain he’d been battling nagging injuries all year, while shit-talking the Clippers whenever possible, which the Elmer Fudd-looking forward continues to do to this day. Cool!

The 2014-15 Clippers were still very good, although the formula was becoming a bit stale. Always on that second tier of contending teams, they could never quite find that extra gear. They obtained Austin Rivers via trade halfway through the season; a move which was much maligned at the time, but ultimately turned out to be a solid get. After coasting through the season, and briefly losing Blake to a staph infection, the still-talented Clippers managed a 56-26 record, good enough for the 3-seed, and headed into the playoffs.

In the first round of the 2015 playoffs, the Clippers faced the veteran Spurs once again. This time, the Clippers weren’t out-coached as Doc Rivers held his own against Gregg Popovich. Blake was playing at an MVP-level, averaging an absurd 24 PPG, 13 RPG, and 7 APG, while Chris chipped in averages of 23 PPG, 5 RPG, and 8 APG to carry the Clippers. The series went back and forth, with each team trading wins until a pivotal game 7 at Staples Center. Chris had suffered a hamstring injury during the series, and had been noticeably limping throughout game 7. 

But tied 109-109 with 9 seconds left, the Clippers trusted their final possession to the Point God who had gotten them this far. On essentially one leg, Chris drove past Danny Green, was met by Tim Duncan at the rim, and tossed up a prayer floater, which bounced off-the-glass and fell perfectly through the net with 1 second remaining. I remember video taping this moment, dropping my phone in the stands when the bucket went in, and not really caring what happened after that. It is, to this day, the most incredible shot I’ve ever seen.

In the second round the Clippers faced what was thought to be a much less daunting opponent, the Houston Rockets. Their defense wasn’t nearly as stingy as the Spurs’, and the Clippers seemed to be able to get to their spots much easier. The Clippers quickly stole homecourt advantage in game 1, and then won both home games, taking a 3-1 lead. In game 5, the Clippers took their foot off the gas and were defeated. Still, they appeared poised to close out the series at home in game 6.

Up 87-68 in the third quarter, the Clippers managed to blow a 19-point lead. Now, teams lose 19 point leads all the time, so we shouldn’t write this off as a freak occurrence, right?

FREAK OCCURRENCE ALERT

Wrong. Yeah, this wasn’t just any 19-point comeback (in-fact it was a full 31 point turnaround as the Rockets won game 6 119-107); this was a 19-point comeback led by the unlikeliest of Houston heroes. And given that Houston had built their team based on statistical probabilities, these were heroes that the Rockets would almost never, ever allow to do what they did.

With their primary and most efficient scorer James Harden on the bench, Corey Brewer (27% from deep that season, 28% career 3P%) and Josh Smith (32% from deep that season, 29% career 3P%) shot a combined 5-7 from downtown in the fourth quarter. These were guys that the Clippers game-planned to leave open from the arc, and who would never shoot like that again in such an important game.

And so the Clippers lost game 6, to Corey Freaking Brewer and Josh Freaking Smith, and fell on the road to Houston in game 7. All of that work to get past San Antonio was for nothing. Isn’t being a Clipper fan fun?

2015-16

That summer, the Clippers mixed things up, trading fan favorite Matt Barnes and the underwhelming Spencer Hawes to the Hornets for Lance Stephenson, added Luc Mbah a Moute, Wesley Johnson, Cole Aldrich, Pablo Prigioni, Paul Pierce (oh), and sharpshooting Josh Smith.

Writer’s note: As Citizen DieterDeux pointed out, I completely whiffed and forgot to mention the DeAndre Jordan kidnapping and re-signing saga. So, I would like to formally submit an I-O-U for an article specifically recapping that incredible event.

Surprisingly, Luc Mbah a Moute ended up taking the starting small forward spot away from Lance Stephenson, with Luc’s stellar defense fitting in nicely with the powerhouse foursome of CP3, Blake, DeAndre, and J.J. Redick. Jamal Crawford was still electric off the bench, winning his (at the time) record 3rd Sixth Man of the Year award. Despite cries of nepotism, Austin Rivers was extremely solid and rightfully earned his spot in the rotation. Wes Johnson was pretty mediocre, but if it weren’t for him the Clippers’ official Twitter account would never have tweeted “W3T JOHNSON ” so there’s that. And the Prigioni-Aldrich chemistry was awfully fun, even if we only saw it a few minutes each game.

The Clippers were still very good, top 10 on both ends of the court, but were really playing beneath their potential, only 16-13 heading into a Christmas day matchup against the Lakers. They defeated the Lakers, but unfortunately Blake Griffin suffered a quad injury injured, which would keep him out for an entire month. But the win and Blake’s injury sparked something in the Clippers, as they rallied and strung together a fantastic stretch, winning 11 of their next 13, with Blake due to return in a few days. 

FREAK OCCURRENCE ALERT

During a team dinner in Toronto, the team’s equipment manager (and Blake’s personal friend) teased Griffin that the team seemed better without him. The usually reserved Griffin lost his cool and punched the equipment manager, breaking his hand and drastically delaying his return. 

The Clippers inserted Paul Pierce into the starting lineup as a stretch 4, and while Pierce wasn’t spectacular, having an extra shooter on the floor provided more spacing for Chris Paul to work. And a few weeks later, the Clippers traded Lance Stephenson and a 1st round pick for Jeff Green. The team ended up going 30-15 over the period that Blake was out. Blake returned on April 3rd, and the team closed the season winning 6 of their final 7 games, ending with a 53-29 record, good for the 4th seed.

The 2016 playoffs had the Clippers matched up against the 44-win Portland Trailblazers, with the Clippers expected by most everyone to win. The series started off as expected, with Los Angeles winning both home games. The Blazers managed to take game 3, riding 59 combined points from Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. Which brings us to game 4. 

The Clippers trailed the entire game and outside of Chris Paul couldn’t buy a bucket. But the score was close all evening thanks to their stingy defense. Despite shooting only 33% for the half, the Clippers were only trailing by 4 heading into halftime! Then in the 3rd quarter, the unthinkable, but seemingly inevitable, happened—bring on that alert.

FREAK OCCURRENCE ALERT 

Late in the third quarter, after finally being healthy for basically the entire season, Chris Paul got his hand caught in Gerald Henderson’s shorts and fractured his hand. His freaking shorts. What the hell, man? Has this kind of injury ever happened before?? And then to add insult to injury (or rather injury to injury), early in the fourth quarter Blake Griffin re-aggravated his previously injured quad and had to go back to the locker room. He briefly re-entered the game, but after grimacing on a routine jump-shot, he was done for the night. I will never forget this game because I had the unfortunate job of writing the game recap. The next day the Clippers announced that Chris and Blake would be shut down for the rest of the season.

With their stars all wearing suits, the Clippers lost game 5 by double digits. But in game 6, on the road, the remaining Clippers fought tooth and nail to give the Clippers a fighting chance at a game 7. Austin Rivers, in particular, made a lot of fans that night, as he showed tremendous toughness in leading the team with a 21-8-6 performance after suffering a bloody facial fracture early in the first quarter. But despite all of that effort, the Clippers lost game 6 by 3 points, and the season was over.

2016-17

By this time, the Lob City Clippers were running it back for the 6th straight time. The season started off extremely well, with the Clippers 14 of their first 16 games. It was their best start in franchise history, and it had writers talking about how they’d finally put it all together. But the momentum couldn’t be maintained, as in December Blake sprained his left knee (requiring surgery, which kept him out until mid-January) and Chris strained his hamstring (which kept him out for stretches in December, January, and February). Despite the injuries, the Clippers finished with a 51-31 record for the 4th seed. 

In the 2017 playoffs, the Clippers faced the Jazz in the first round. After dropping game 1 to a buzzer beater by Iso Joe Johnson, the Clippers won games 2 and 3 to regain homecourt advantage. But the win in game 3 came with an unfortunate price tag, as Blake Griffin suffered a season-ending injury to his… big toe. (At this point, an injury doesn’t even warrant a Freak Occurrence Alert.)

So without their second star, the Clippers lost the series in 7 games. Yet another playoff run, ultimately this group’s last, derailed by an injury to Paul and/or Griffin.

To Be Continued

Time for our final break as we wrap up Part 3. In Part 4, the Clippers will press the reset button and set themselves up to create the greatest Clipper team ever assembled.

The 2020 LA Clippers: For the People in the Back, Part 3
Erik Olsgaard