Hoops Rumors Originals

Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2024 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the Los Angeles Clippers.

Free agent signings

• James Harden: Two years, $70,000,000. Second-year player option. Includes 15% trade kicker. Re-signed using Bird rights.
• Derrick Jones: Three years, $30,000,000. Includes 5% trade kicker. Signed using non-taxpayer mid-level exception.
• Kris Dunn: Three years, $16,279,200. Third year non-guaranteed. Signed using Early Bird rights and acquired via sign-and-trade from Jazz.
• Nicolas Batum: Two years, $9,569,400. Second-year player option. Includes 15% trade kicker. Signed using bi-annual exception.
• Kevin Porter Jr.: Two years, minimum salary ($4,784,366). Second-year player option. Includes 15% trade kicker. Signed using minimum salary exception.
• Mohamed Bamba: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
• Kai Jones: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Re-signed using minimum salary exception.

Trades

• Acquired Kris Dunn (sign-and-trade) from the Jazz in exchange for Russell Westbrook, swap rights for the Clippers’ 2030 second-round pick, the draft rights to Balsa Koprivica, and cash ($4.3MM).

Draft picks

• 2-46: Cam Christie
  • Signed to four-year, minimum-salary contract ($7,895,796). First two years guaranteed. Third year non-guaranteed. Fourth-year non-guaranteed team option.

Two-way signings

• Trentyn Flowers

Departed/unsigned free agents

• Brandon Boston (Spurs)
• Moussa Diabate (Hornets)
• Paul George (Sixers)
• Xavier Moon (Zenit St. Petersburg)
• Mason Plumlee (Suns)
• Daniel Theis (Hornets)

Salary cap situation

• Operating over the cap ($140.6MM), above the luxury tax line ($170.8MM), and below the first tax apron ($178.1MM).
• Carrying approximately $173.3MM in salary.
• Hard-capped at $178,132,000.
• $3,298,190 of mid-level exception available.
• One traded player exception available (worth $559,782).

The offseason so far

On the evening of June 30, before word broke that the Sixers had an agreement in place with Paul George, the Clippers put out a release confirming that the star forward wouldn’t be back in Los Angeles, citing “the new CBA” multiple times in their statement explaining why George was moving on.

While the new second tax apron likely played a part in the Clippers’ decision to draw a hard line in their negotiations with George, the fact that the team had won just three total playoff games – and no playoff series – in the past three years presumably factored into that decision too.

Doubling down on the existing core by investing in George on a four-year, maximum-salary contract probably would’ve given the Clippers a stronger roster in the short term than the one they’ll field in 2024/25. But it also would’ve come with significant risk, given George’s and Kawhi Leonard‘s age and recent injury histories, and it’s not as if the team appeared to be on the verge of a championship in recent years.

Not being on the hook for a long-term max deal for George creates more financial and roster flexibility for the Clippers going forward. It also allowed them to add to and diversify their roster this offseason while putting returning star James Harden in a better position to maximize his offensive talents.

Harden, whose scoring average dipped to 16.6 points per game last season (his lowest mark since 2010/11), re-signed with the Clippers on a two-year, $70MM deal that includes a second-year player option. The commitment to Harden comes with little long-term risk and could even be a relative bargain if the former MVP enjoys a bounce-back season with the ball in his hands more often. Still, at age 35, Harden seems unlikely to regain his prime All-NBA form.

Another former MVP in the back half of his career, Russell Westbrook, picked up his $4MM player option in June, but he and the Clippers immediately began working on a trade to get him to a new destination. It’s not really clear whether that move was instigated more by the Clippers or by Westbrook’s camp, but a change of scenery probably made sense for the longtime star, whose fit in L.A. was awkward after the club acquired Harden last fall.

George and Westbrook have 18 All-Star nods between them. The Clippers’ new incoming role players have zero. Still, Derrick Jones, Kris Dunn, and Nicolas Batum are solid, versatile defenders who should fit in nicely alongside the club’s top offensive weapons like Harden, Leonard, and Norman Powell. They were acquired via the mid-level exception, sign-and-trade, and bi-annual exception, respectively, three tools that wouldn’t have been available to the Clips if they’d re-signed George and were operating over the second apron.

The minimum-salary signing of Kevin Porter Jr. raised some eyebrows, given the domestic violence charges that torpedoed his 2023/24 season and led to his release. President of basketball operations Lawrence Frank explained in July why the team was willing to give a second chance to Porter, who may face a suspension from the NBA related to that incident. Once he’s eligible to play, the Clippers’ hope is that he stays out of trouble and performs like the player who averaged 19.2 PPG and 5.7 APG for Houston in 2022/23.

The Clippers’ ceiling in 2024/25 may not be as high as it would’ve been with George still in the fold, but running it back with essentially the same roster wouldn’t have inspired much confidence, given the results in the Kawhi/PG13 era. If the new-look roster doesn’t perform up to expectations, L.A.’s front office is better positioned to pivot and change directions, given the shorter, less expensive contracts on the roster.

Up next

Veteran forward P.J. Tucker fell out of the Clippers’ rotation last season and didn’t seem too thrilled with his situation. He still exercised his $11.54MM player option in June because he wouldn’t have made nearly that much money if he’d declined that option to become a free agent, but he was a strong candidate to be traded or waived this summer. It now sounds like that may not happen. I wouldn’t pencil in Tucker as part of the opening-night roster quite yet though. His days in L.A. appear numbered — it’s just a matter of whether his exit happens sometime this summer or fall, or later in the season.

If Tucker remains on the roster, the Clippers’ 15-man group looks set, with just one two-way slot to fill next to Jordan Miller and Trentyn Flowers. Camp invitees like Kai Jones, Elijah Harkless, RayJ Dennis, and Kevon Harris could be in the mix for that spot (only Jones has officially signed an Exhibit 10 contract so far, but the other three have reportedly agreed to sign with the team).

The Clippers also have a handful of players eligible for extensions, including Ivica Zubac and Terance Mann, two important rotation players entering contract years. Reaching new deals with Zubac and Mann figures to be a higher priority for L.A. than locking up Powell (who has two years left on his contract) or Bones Hyland (whose playing time as a Clipper has been limited), but the team may look into what it would take to extend all four players.

Zubac and Mann could be extended anytime between now and June 30, 2025, whereas there’s an October 21 deadline for Powell and Hyland. I’d still view Zubac and Mann as the more likely candidates to get something done before opening night.