It is time to publish the NBA 2024-25 Los Angeles Clippers preview. Data, results from the previous season, a look at their squad and their future free agents, the objectives of the course, the player to follow and a prediction about the franchise.
Los Angeles Clippers
The template
- Movements in the market: Signings of Derrick Jones Jr., Nicolas Batum, Kevin Porter Jr., Kris Dunn and Mo Bamba, departures of Paul George, Russel Westbrook and Mason Plumlee.
- Backcourt: Bones Hyland, Kris Dunn, Kevin Porter Jr., James Harden, Norman Powell, Terance Mann, Amir Coffey, Cameron Christie.
- Frontcourt: Kawhi Leonard, Derrick Jones Jr., Nicolas Batum, Trentyn Flowers (two-way), PJ Tucker, Kobe Brown, Ivica Zubac, Mo Bamba.
This is how they face the season
The Clippers won 51 games last season. 51. We start there because it seems like it can’t be true. Was this team that good? Of course, that is not the impression that was left once the postseason ended. This ended with the feeling of having seen the same thing as always, an eternal I want and a I can, and a continuous ‘you’re not fooling anyone anymore’. And if this is how the previous one ended, what can we say about how this one begins.
There are many who have gradually gotten off the wagon of this project that back in 2019, when it was formed, seemed destined for at least one ring. But right now we are surely at the lowest point in terms of confidence in what Angelenos can do. It’s not just that no one seems to take them seriously as contenders, it’s that fewer and fewer people seem to take them seriously as a team.
And that, we repeat, comes from being a good team. There was a small bump after the transfer of James Harden, to which they had a hard time adapting, but once they got into the rhythm they had really good stretches of competition and had streaks on par with the best in the competition. But all that has been erased from the collective memory by a playoffs that recovered the usual ghosts and a summer in which the project has begun to crack. And so it is much more difficult to believe.
When Kawhi Leonard decided he would play for the Clippers he did so with one condition: to have Paul George by his side. And so it happened. The Angelenos gave the Thunder what they asked for the forward and, minutes after confirming the transfer, Kawhi made his arrival official. And he did it with a contract of the same duration as George’s, ensuring that, if George left in free agency, he could do the same. This was also the case in the first extension that both signed, which once again tied them to the franchise for an identical duration. But then…
Leonard signed an extension in January of this year before Paul did, becoming linked to the team for the first time without his teammate also being linked. And shortly afterward, rumors began of George’s possible departure in free agency, rumors that materialized in his departure to Philadelphia. Thus, the duo that excited so much five years ago broke up with a baggage of results that can be summarized as an appearance in the Conference Finals, leaving us with a question: can Kawhi keep this ship afloat?
The same old story
Talking about the Clippers’ number 2 is talking about both basketball and sports medicine, since since his arrival it has been a frustrating mix of great performances and physical problems. Problems that, curiously, seemed to have been left behind last year. The forward was experiencing his healthiest year since he joined the team, and in fact, with 68 games played, he reached his highest number since 2017. But what happened in the playoffs? Well, what we all know. Two nights on the court at a low level and four nights on the bench, from where he saw his team eliminated.
Faced with this situation, it seemed that the solution would be to go back to business as usual: take the regular league easy and trust that, unlike what has happened on other occasions, his body will reach the playoffs better. The thing is, without George by his side and with the West in one of its toughest years, it’s possible that if Leonard takes the season easy there won’t be any playoffs to worry about. And this forces Tyronn Lue to find a middle ground that allows both realities to coexist. If such a thing is possible.
The worst thing is that the story doesn’t exactly start well. In fact, it already began to go wrong in the summer, when the player claimed to be ready to feel part of the Olympic team but the American team decided that the best thing for him was to rest. This was a decision that the Clippers themselves claimed they did not understand and that once again generated endless doubts regarding the forward’s situation. Doubts that, far from being frightening, became greater when it was learned months later that he had undergone surgery on his knee in the month of May. And they grew even more when, yesterday, it was announced that the forward would be out indefinitely.
Thus, we return to a story that we have already experienced several times. The obscurantism regarding Leonard’s physical condition is such that it is no longer possible to try to predict when he will be ready to play, much less when he will truly be 100%. And this is certainly not the best way to face the start of the season when, presumably, they would depend on him the most.
“I am the system”
Kawhi, however, has not been left alone. Despite the departures of George and Westbrook, the latter in principle less relevant, there is still another star on the roster. But it is not necessarily the one that generates the most confidence.
James Harden came to the Clippers to form a squad with four All-Stars in which less than a year later only half remain. And with Leonard foreseeably in ‘management mode’ activated, everything indicates that he will have to go from being one more in a stellar ecosystem to the owner of the keys to the team, as he already was in other stages of his career. Only without the guarantees of those other stages.
La Barba became in Houston the paradigm of a heliocentric player that justified to a certain extent that phrase “I am the system” for which he was so criticized. Thus he won an MVP, perhaps he deserved another after averaging 36.1 points and 7.5 assists (an unprecedented season) and put the almighty Warriors of Curry and Durant in check. But five years have passed since then. And, as seen on the court, Harden is another.
James is still capable of producing specific displays, but his level of consistency has become much lower, which casts doubt on the ceiling of a team almost devoid of other ball handlers (Kevin Porter Jr. must be considered a question mark) and in which the other star will start between cottons. Because of the way the team is made, even with Kawhi back Harden will have to monopolize a lot of the ball, and on nights when he is alone we may see the guard try to imitate what he did in the Rockets jersey. Only with a much less overwhelming version and on a team that is not built for that.
And not for lack of good role players, because if there’s one thing these Clippers can boast of, it’s having many interesting names. Kris Dunn would be a man that half the league would have rallied around in the summer if anyone had bothered to watch the Jazz, Derrick Jones Jr. is coming off of shining in Dallas, Nicolas Batum is one of those veterans capable of plugging any hole, Norman Powell has been established as a scorer from the bench for years, as has Ivica Zubac as a solvent center… There are pieces.
But in this league you don’t win with role players alone. Role players can complement the stars, highlighting their virtues and covering up their shortcomings, but for that you need the stars to be there and to be good. But the Clippers have fewer stars than ever and the usual doubts. Or more. On paper, you can imagine what this team can become and you run the risk of starting to trust them. Until you stop thinking about the Kawhi and Harden of 2019 and return to the present. And there certainties are scarce.
The player to watch
With Kawhi out for who knows how long, this is Harden’s position. We have already talked about him, but now that we know that he will occupy the first place in the squad for longer than expected, it is inevitable that all the spotlights will fall on him. Because now he has to assume the responsibility of keeping the team alive until Leonard is back (if such a thing happens, since we know each other).
La Barba not long ago defended his style of play, arguing that Doncic had taken the Mavericks to the NBA Finals with a system in which he monopolized as much of the ball as he used to. Well, perhaps the time has come to assume that weight again, only this time more as a plan B than as an assertive decision. In a squad without too many generators with the ball and without too many creative point guards, many times there will almost be no choice but to give the ball to James and see what he comes up with. And that was valid in 2018. Is it valid in 2024?
Because if it doesn’t work and these Clippers get off to a bad start, Harden will once again be the man to follow but for other reasons. The shooting guard lasted a year in Brooklyn before losing faith in the project and asking for a transfer. It lasted a year and a half in Philadelphia before it happened again. Will he also lose faith in these Clippers? And what will he do then?
NBA Preview 2024-25 Los Angeles Clippers, prediction
These Clippers have screwed me over more times than I’m willing to admit. So perhaps my pessimism is an exaggerated reaction resulting from having trusted on so many occasions and not having seen even half an iota of results, but in a West in which there are 12 teams aspiring to the postseason, if I have to choose one that falls I choose this one. With so many projects on the rise and with Kawhi’s uncertainty, I foresee disaster. At the end of the day, someone has to be left out.
- Balance: Around 35 wins.
- Position: 12º from the West.
- The maximum they aspire to: sneak into playoffs without play-in.
- If things go wrong: debacle and to consider whether it is time to let the project die.
Previous team: New York Knicks. Next team: Minnesota Timberwolves.
(Cover photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
