The Clippers made an offseason push with a win-now perspective, including a pair of former All-Stars within the backcourt and a pair of veterans up entrance, plus a promising 6-foot-11 rookie heart.
The 2 areas of concern for the Clippers as they once more take purpose for the playoffs — and the hopes of advancing previous the primary spherical for the primary time since their journey to the Western Convention finals in 2021 — are age and chemistry. Once they open the season Wednesday in opposition to the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake Metropolis, the Clippers possible can have the oldest workforce within the league with a mean age of 33.2 years. Against this, the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder gained the title final season at a mean age of 24.7 years.
Can coach Tyronn Lue match all of the items of the puzzle collectively?
“It’s going to take us 15 to 20 games into the season to really understand our rotations, our chemistry, how we want to play, who fits,” Lue stated after the Clippers’ first preseason sport.
Then there’s the annual concern concerning the well being of Kawhi Leonard, a six-time All-Star and two-time NBA Finals MVP, who has not performed in not less than 70 video games in an everyday season since 2016-17. Whereas he begins his 14th season wholesome, he performed in solely 37 video games final season, lacking the primary 34 due to lingering knee issues. He did play the whole seven-game playoff sequence in opposition to the Denver Nuggets, averaging 25.0 factors, 7.6 rebounds and 4.7 assists.
Off the court docket, the Clippers, proprietor Steve Ballmer and Leonard are the main target of an investigation by an unbiased regulation agency that’s attempting to find out for the NBA whether or not the workforce violated league guidelines by funneling more money to their star by a separate firm during which the Clippers’ proprietor was an investor. Ballmer and Leonard deny there was such a deal.
On the court docket, James Harden, an 11-time All-Star and former league MVP, once more would be the catalyst for the offense alongside Leonard. Harden averaged 22.8 factors, 8.7 assists and 5.8 rebounds final season. He was one among solely 4 gamers — together with Cade Cunningham, LeBron James and Nikola Jokic — averaging greater than 22 factors and eight rebounds per sport whereas capturing 35% or higher from three-point vary.
Harden and Leonard led the Clippers to a fifth-place end within the Western Convention final season thanks partially to successful 18 of their remaining 21 regular-season video games.
This season the Clippers’ rebuilt roster will function three-time All-Star Bradley Beal as a starter after two injury-riddled seasons with Phoenix and 40-year-old Chris Paul — the previous Clipper, 12-time All-Star and bona fide Corridor of Famer — in a backup function. The workforce acquired Brook Lopez (free company), John Collins (commerce) and Yanic Konan Niederhauser (draft) to fortify the frontcourt anchored by 7-foot Ivica Zubac, who averaged 16.8 factors and 12.6 rebounds final season whereas capturing 62.8%.
One key shall be how Beal suits into the lineup as a scorer and facilitator. Lue believes he’ll return to type after shaking off accidents.
“Players of this caliber are very rare, and they’re hard to come by,” Lue stated this summer time when the workforce signed Beal after the Suns purchased out his contract. “You can put him in so many different spots and he’ll find ways to score. … He can create his own or he can play off the ball. He’s a great cutter. He’s also a great playmaker who is going to make everybody else better.”
New Clippers guard Bradley Beal will be a part of a beginning lineup that features James Harden, Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac, seeking to shake off two injury-riddled seasons in Phoenix.
(Eric Thayer / Related Press)
Gone are guards Norman Powell, who had a breakout season and was a part of the commerce to amass Collins, Amir Coffey (free company), Ben Simmons (free company) and Patty Mills (retired) in addition to heart Drew Eubanks (waived).
But the Clippers can have loads of depth offensively and defensively in versatile forwards Derrick Jones Jr. and Nicolas Batum plus guards Kris Dunn and Bogdan Bogdanovic.
Lue talked about that his membership can have a number of veterans coming off the bench who’ve been starters.
“It feels good to have a lot of different options, combinations,” Lue stated. “Every night could be different, every night is going to be different.
“But we have time. We just got to keep getting better.”
Related Press, basketball-reference.com and nba.com contributed to this report.
