The LA Clippers have blown up their team.
At least, that’s one way to look at the fact that the only players left on the roster from the 2024 postseason are Kawhi Leonard and Jordan Miller. (Nicolas Batum has been with the Clippers for six training camps in a row, but he was included in the 2023 trade that brought James Harden to the Clippers before returning to LA in the 2024 offseason.)
Blowing up a team, however, doesn’t mean tanking. It does not mean that a team has no direction. The Clippers’ plan was in full view back in 2024 when Paul George departed for Philadelphia: Be competitive while identifying the players who will take the team into its next era.
Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank discussed that vision Monday following last week’s eventful trade deadline. The Clippers made two trades, swapping Harden — a future Hall of Famer — to the Cleveland Cavaliers for two-time All-Star point guard Darius Garland and a 2026 second-round pick, and sending starting center Ivica Zubac to the Indiana Pacers in a five-player deal that could net a top-10 draft pick for the Clippers this year.
“To our fans, and I’ve already talked to our players, our goals have not changed,” Frank said Monday. “We are trying to win. Now. We’re trying to win as many games as we can. We’re going to keep stacking the days. And whatever that means, that’s what it means. We’ve won 19 of our last 25. We want to keep on moving forward. And we want to play in the postseason this year.”
Leonard has one year left on his contract after this season. Even though this is the first time he does not have either George or Harden on the team, Frank downplayed any thoughts about Leonard being the next Clippers stalwart out the door.
“Kawhi’s a very bright guy, and understands in order to be sustainable, you have to make some really, really hard and difficult decisions,” Frank said. “We can continue and look forward to building with Kawhi while still acknowledging we’re going to need more. And we’ll go through every step of what that looks like, whether it’s free agency, whether it’s in trade, whether it’s in draft and how we build it. But Kawhi’s been a great partner, and I anticipate him being a great partner moving forward.”
Leonard is certainly worth it. The way he played in Minnesota on Sunday was the latest example how outstanding he has been this season at age 34, outscoring small forward counterpart Jaden McDaniels 41 to 2. He’s still a player who can will his team to wins, and trading Harden and Zubac doesn’t change Leonard’s status. He is here to be coach Tyronn Lue’s pillar of hope.
But making moves with Leonard in mind belies the elephant in the room when it comes to the Clippers.
The NBA continues to investigate the team, Leonard and former team sponsor Aspiration as it relates to an alleged “no-show” endorsement deal and salary-cap circumvention, allegations first outlined by Pablo Torre on his “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast in August.
“We haven’t learned anything more than we have back in September,” Frank said. “And to be honest with you, it doesn’t impact anything we do. We know it’s out there. We know at some point there’ll be a decision made.”
In the meantime, there are the “win-now” moves that have a chance to work out really well but also have a lower floor, too.
The Harden exit will always be a peculiar one, if nothing else, because neither the Clippers nor the Cavaliers seems to want to own up to who initiated the move.
“This opportunity was brought to us several weeks ago, in a place that James really identified, that he would want to be here,” Cavaliers basketball president Koby Altman said Friday. “James is a savant. He knows our depth, intimately. He really understands our dynamic, how we play. And so that excited me even more, the fact that he knew our depth chart really well. And so all of that together, obviously, made us pull the trigger on that.”
Frank presented an alternative timeline.
“Cleveland called us, and we obviously listened,” Frank said, adding that the Clippers had a conversation with Harden’s representatives a week before the trade deadline, when Harden was in Denver about to play his final game with the franchise. “We talked with them over the next couple of days, and we found a situation that is a win for the Clippers. It’s a win for James. It’s a win for the Cavaliers. And that’s how trades are supposed to work, where it totally makes sense. They’re at it where they’re trying to win it this year, OK? We’re in a situation (where) we want to win now, and we want to get younger. So I think both sides got exactly what they were looking for, and that’s the essence of good deal-making.”
Ivica Zubac was one the Clippers’ best players, a stalwart anchor in the post. But the Pacers’ offer for him was too good for LA to refuse. (Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
Either way, Harden is in Cleveland now with Donovan Mitchell, even though the Clippers had the league’s best record over the last six weeks, while Garland is a Clipper. When Garland will make his debut is uncertain.
He mentioned in his Clippers introduction that he is “back on the court, working out, doing all the things I love to do. Just waiting on the green light — I’m ready to hoop.” Frank said that the Clippers will change Garland’s injury designation to reflect that the right foot toe sprain that has kept him out for nearly four weeks has healed, while Garland’s still-sore, surgically repaired left foot toe will keep him out indefinitely.
“We are going to manage this correctly, OK?” Frank said. “We are not gonna skip any steps. Because we think the short-term investment will lead to long-term rewards. … We’re gonna get it right and take as long as it takes. But we’re very confident that by taking the time now, it’s gonna give him a long runway. He’s only 26, and we want to see him playing at a high level for a long time.”
Trading Zubac, the team’s mainstay at center since arriving in 2019, was an emotionally difficult one for all involved: front office, coaches, Zubac, etc. But it had to be done. The return was too good and one that wouldn’t have been any higher with Harden outbound. The biggest player coming back to the Clippers is Bennedict Mathurin, the sixth pick of the 2022 draft and a restricted free agent this summer.
The plan is for Garland to play after the All-Star break. And Garland, who has two seasons left on his deal after this one, will play with another young player in Mathurin, who has had injury issues of his own, along with concerns about his defensive consistency and playmaking ability. But Mathurin is certainly a bona fide scorer, one who gets to the foul line at a high rate already. Mathurin and center Isaiah Jackson, a 2021 first-round pick who is coming back from a torn Achilles tendon suffered early last season, are available to make their Clippers debut Tuesday in Houston.
“With Benn, I think the growth that he can have, both on the defensive end, and also … those shot pass decisions, I think we’ll continue to see it,” Frank said.
The biggest swing for the Clippers is in May’s draft lottery. If the Pacers’ pick lands between No. 5 and No. 9, then it goes to the Clippers, and perhaps that’s a boon to keep Leonard for the final season of his contract. But if the Pacers win the lottery (or, much less likely, pick No. 10 through No. 30), the Clippers get an unprotected 2031 first-round pick to go with the 2029 first-round pick and 2028 second-round pick (via Dallas) that Indiana is trading. Perhaps those assets combine with the possibility of trading Leonard, if the time comes when the Clippers view that as their best move.
That could all be a moot point depending on the results of the league’s Aspiration investigation. But the Clippers claim they made those moves independent of the probe. And though the moves are significant, the Clippers still intend to extend their streak of seasons with a winning record to 15.
“We very much feel the same thing that we told you back in September, that we’re on the right side of this,” Frank said. “And then, whenever they make the decision, they make the decision. But it really doesn’t impact anything we do on a daily basis.”
