Los Angeles Clippers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Porzingis, Windler, Walker, Awards Ballot

April 17th, 2025 at 3:57pm CST by Rory Maher

Assuming he’s healthy, Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis intends to play for Latvia during the EuroBasket tournament this summer, as EuroHoops.net relays.

“Whether I want to play for the national team or not – that’s a silly question,” Porzingis said, according to FIBA. “The past few summers didn’t work out because I was injured. I’ve never refused the national team. When I haven’t played, it’s because of injuries. This summer, I’ll be there. Health is the main thing – then everything else will follow.”

Here are a few more items of interest from around the basketball world:

Former NBA wing Dylan Windler spent the 2024/25 season with the Perth Wildcats of the National Basketball League. The Australian team announced in a press release that it has re-signed the 28-year-old to a new two-year contract. “It just felt right to come back to Perth, I feel like we’ve got some unfinished business in the playoffs after going out in the semi-finals like we did,” Windler said. “We enjoyed it there and it’s a great situation for me basketball-wise and I look forward to continuing to build on the team that we had last year and see what new faces we can bring in and what we can build together.”
Veteran NBA guard Kemba Walker, who made four All-Star teams during his time in the league, announced his retirement as a player last July. However, evidently he will return to the hardwood this summer, according to Chris Haynes, who reports (via Twitter) that Walker has reached an agreement to play in the BIG3. Dwight Howard will also be competing in the 3-on-3 league. Walker spent this past season as a player enhancement coach with the Hornets.
Tim Bontemps of ESPN has an official NBA awards ballot. He recently revealed his choices for all the major 2024/25 awards as well as some of the reasoning behind the selections. Perhaps most interestingly, Bontemps voted for Clippers center Ivica Zubac as Defensive Player of the Year, with Cavaliers forward/center Evan Mobley finishing as his runner-up.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, James Harden Named Players Of The Week

April 14th, 2025 at 2:40pm CST by Luke Adams

Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo has been named the Eastern Conference’s Player of the Week for a second straight Monday, the NBA announced today (Twitter link).

Antetokounmpo sat out Milwaukee’s regular season finale on Sunday, but was stellar in three Bucks wins over Minnesota, New Orleans, and Detroit earlier in the week, averaging 27.7 points, 11.7 rebounds, 10.0 assists, and 1.3 blocks in 34.0 minutes per game.

It’s the fourth time this season that Antetokounmpo has earned Player of the Week honors, which is the most of any player in 2024/25. No one else in the East won the award more than twice this season; Nuggets center Nikola Jokic claimed it three times in the West.

It was Clippers guard James Harden, not Jokic, who was named the Western Conference’s Player of the Week for April 7-13, marking the second week in a row that a Clippers star has earned the award. Kawhi Leonard won it last Monday.

Harden helped the Clippers secure a guaranteed playoff spot (No. 5 in the West) by leading the team to a 4-0 week to wrap up the regular season, with victories over San Antonio, Houston, Sacramento, and – most crucially – Golden State. In those four games, the former MVP averaged 29.5 points, 10.5 assists, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.5 steals in 41.5 minutes per night, with a .534/.484/.862 shooting line.

Back in his prime years, Harden typically earned multiple Player of the Week nods every year, but this is the first time he has been recognized with the weekly award since February 2021, per Basketball-Reference.

Scottie Barnes, Trae Young, Onyeka Okongwu, and Payton Pritchard were the other Player of the Week nominees in the Eastern Conference, while Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards, Aaron Gordon, Aaron Wiggins, and Harden’s teammate Ivica Zubac were nominated in the West (Twitter link).

Postseason Seeding Set For Western Conference

April 13th, 2025 at 5:46pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The seedings for the Western Conference playoffs came down to the very last game — the Clippers‘ 124-119 overtime victory over the Warriors on Sunday afternoon. That outcome assured L.A. of a playoff spot and pushed Golden State into the play-in tournament.

The red-hot Clippers, winners of eight straight, nailed down the No. 5 seed. The Timberwolves, who won their last three games, grabbed the last automatic berth into the first round, joining the Nuggets, who secured the No. 4 seed with their win over Houston on Sunday.

Here’s how the top 10 teams in the West finished the regular season, as the NBA confirms (via Twitter):

Oklahoma City Thunder
Houston Rockets
Los Angeles Lakers
Denver Nuggets
Los Angeles Clippers
Minnesota Timberwolves
Golden State Warriors
Memphis Grizzlies
Sacramento Kings
Dallas Mavericks

The play-in tournament in the Western Conference will feature the Warriors hosting the Grizzlies on Tuesday and the Kings hosting the Mavericks on Wednesday. The Golden State/Memphis winner will claim the No. 7 spot in the playoffs and face the Rockets in the first round of the playoffs. The loser of that game will host the Sacramento/Dallas survivor on Friday for the No. 8 spot and the right to face the top-seeded Thunder in round one.

The Lakers will have home court advantage in the first round and face the Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs. The Nuggets will also have home court advantage in their first-round series against the Clippers.

The seedings for the Eastern Conference playoffs were decided prior to Sunday’s action and can be found here.

And-Ones: Wong, 82 Games, Powell, Jamaica, More

April 13th, 2025 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

After being waived by the Hornets prior to the All-Star break, guard Isaiah Wong signed a rest-of-season contract with the Lithuanian team Zalgiris Kaunas in February. According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter links), Wong has since agreed to extend his relationship with Zalgiris, though his new deal comes with opt-out potential.

As agent Darrell Comer explains to Scotto, Wong’s new three-year contract includes outs for the NBA, EuroLeague, and China. Specifically, it features an opportunity for the 24-year-old to opt out during the summer of 2025 for a two-way contract offer from an NBA team, and Wong is indeed expected to generate two-way interest, Scotto reports.

The 55th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Wong spent his rookie year on a two-way deal with the Pacers, then appeared in 20 games off the bench for Charlotte this season. He averaged 6.0 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 13.3 minutes per night as a Hornet, with a shooting line of .390/.394/.735.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has previously expressed a desire to reduce the 82-game NBA season and still feels strongly about the issue, having emailed NBA commissioner Adam Silver to make his case before the start of this season, according to Christian Clark of The Athletic. However, even though he believes it’s a logical way to address load management and player participation issues, Kerr is skeptical it will ever happen. “We should be playing fewer games,” he said. “Everyone knows that. But it’s a money issue. How many of the constituents are willing to take less money?”
Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press takes a closer look at the players who appeared in all 82 regular season games this season, including Spurs point guard Chris Paul, who became the first player to start 82 games in his 20th NBA season (John Stockton previously made 82 starts in his 19th year). As Reynolds notes, Knicks forward Mikal Bridges played just six seconds on Sunday in order to keep his streak of 556 consecutive regular season appearances alive.
Clippers guard Norman Powell has committed to representing Jamaica during the pre-qualifiers for the 2027 FIBA World Cup this summer, according to an announcement from the Basketball Jamaica Association. The games will be played from August 8-10. “I’m super excited to join Team Jamaica,” Powell said in a statement. “Coach (Nick) Turner and I have worked on this for a while, and now it’s a reality. I’m ready to grind and need everyone’s support to make it happen.”
ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Insider link) has launched his offseason preview series for 2025 by identifying the top front office priorities for the Jazz, Hornets, and Wizards this offseason. While the draft will be crucial for all three clubs, they also have several veteran players to make decisions on, including Lauri Markkanen, John Collins, LaMelo Ball, and Jordan Poole.

Pacific Notes: Warriors Vs. Clippers, Reaves, Redick, Kuminga

April 12th, 2025 at 11:07pm CST by Arthur Hill

Sunday is the final day of the regular season, but the matchup between the Warriors and Clippers is virtually a playoff game, writes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. The winner will wrap up an automatic playoff berth, while the loser could slip to seventh place and a spot in the play-in tournament.

“High stakes, huh?” Clippers center Ivica Zubac said after Friday’s one-point victory at Sacramento. “It’s been like that forever. Imagine if we didn’t win all these games.”

L.A. has won all three meetings between the teams this season, but they haven’t faced each other since December 27. That was about a week before Kawhi Leonard made his season debut after missing the first 34 games due to knee issues and a little more than a month before Golden State added Jimmy Butler in a major deadline trade. Both teams have been moving up the standings since then, heading toward Sunday’s clash.

“It’s basketball. The outcome is going to tell what happens,” Leonard said. “So, it’s just going out and playing, that’s all you can do. Play and have fun. Everybody wants to win coming down the stretch.”

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

After wrapping up the No. 3 seed Friday night, the Lakers are very confident as they approach the playoffs, per Khobi Price of The Orange County Register. Austin Reaves said it felt like five regular seasons wrapped into one because of all the roster changes, but the team wound up in a good place. “We feel very comfortable with what we got in the locker room, from front office, coaching staff to players,” Reaves said. “We’re all locked into one goal and that’s to win a championship. We can play different ways and then we got the best player to ever play the game (in LeBron James) and then probably, arguably (someone who is) going to be one of the best players to ever play the game with Luka (Doncic). And then around that, we have guys that are just bought into winning and that’s what you need when you’re trying to make a run like that.”
The Lakers made a great decision by hiring J.J. Redick as head coach and were fortunate that UConn’s Dan Hurley turned down their six-year, $70MM offer last June, contends columnist Bill Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times (subscription required).
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Friday that he hasn’t given up on a front line of Butler, Draymond Green and Jonathan Kuminga, even though the experiment hasn’t gone well so far, according to Sam Gordon of The San Francisco Chronicle. Golden State has a minus-24.9 net rating in the 38 minutes they’ve been on the court together, and Gordon notes that none of them can stretch the floor as a consistent three-point threat. Gordon also observes that the Butler trade left Kuminga with a reduced role. “He’s handled things really well. He’s working. He’s staying ready. He’s playing hard when he’s out there,” Kerr said. “But the bottom line is when we traded for Jimmy, Draymond became our (power forward) and (center).”

Postseason Scenarios To Watch Friday

April 11th, 2025 at 4:00pm CST by Rory Maher

With only two regular season games remaining on each team’s schedule, 15 of the 20 seeds entering the 2025 postseason are still up for grabs, the NBA noted today (Twitter link).

All 30 teams will be playing on Friday and again on Sunday. Friday’s slate has several matchups with important postseason implications.

Here’s a quick rundown of the the most important scenarios in play tonight, per the league (Twitter link):

The Nuggets will clinch a top-six seed and thus a guaranteed playoff spot with a win AND a loss by either the Clippers, Warriors or Timberwolves.
The Clippers will clinch a playoff spot with a win AND a loss by either Denver, Golden State or Minnesota.
The Warriors will secure a playoff berth with a win AND losses by both Memphis and Minnesota.
The Grizzlies will be locked into the play-in tournament with a loss AND a Warriors win.
The Timberwolves will be locked into the play-in tournament with a loss AND wins by Denver, Golden State and the Clippers.
The Lakers will clinch the Pacific Division with a win OR a Clippers loss.

Pacific Notes: Zubac, Monk, Warriors Loss, Podziemski

April 10th, 2025 at 10:54am CST by Dana Gauruder

Ivica Zubac recorded the first triple-double of his NBA career in the Clippers’ win over the Rockets on Wednesday, compiling 20 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high 10 assists. The veteran center achieved the feat when he assisted on Bogdan Bogdanovic‘s late three-pointer.

Zubac, who signed a three-year extension in September, almost didn’t get a chance to make some personal history.

“I wanted it,” Zubac told Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. “T. Lue (coach Tyronn Lue) wanted to sub me out, then everyone was like, ‘No, no, no.’ He asked me and I was like, ‘I’ll stay.’ I wanted it. I told Bogie ‘I’ll get it to you and you got to shoot it no matter what,’ and he did. Bogie is a big-time shot maker. So, I told him he’s never paying for dinner again. I’m glad he made that shot.”

The Clippers’ sixth straight win kept them tied with the Nuggets for the fourth-best record in the West.

We have more from the Pacific Division:

Kings sixth man Malik Monk won’t be available for at least two weeks due to a calf strain. It’s a case of very bad timing for the club as the postseason approaches, Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee notes. “It’s super unfortunate because we depend on him a lot,” interim Kings coach Doug Christie said. “In many ways, he is the leader of the team, definitely on the emotional side. A lot of the energy, the things that go on in the locker room, practice. He’s the head of the snake in many ways. He’ll still be around, obviously, but two weeks is two weeks and we need him. We need Malik’s energy, his shooting, his athleticism.”
A bad loss to the Spurs on Wednesday left the Warriors in a precarious position. They’re now in seventh place in the West with two games remaining. If the Grizzlies win their final three games against the Minnesota, Denver and Dallas — plus the Clippers beat the Kings on Friday and the Nuggets beat the Rockets on Sunday — then the Warriors would be stuck in the play-in tournament, regardless of whether they win their final two games, according to The Athletic’s Anthony Slater. Golden State has games remaining against the Trail Blazers and Clippers. “A good team takes care of business the next two and goes from there,” Stephen Curry said. “We have to prove we’re a good team.”
Warriors wing Brandin Podziemski had a rough outing on Wednesday, scoring just seven points in 33 minutes. In his previous four games, Podziemski averaged 23.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists. His surge in the second half of the season has fueled the Warriors’ chase for a top-six spot, Slater writes. “He was pressing early,” coach Steve Kerr said. “He was trying too hard to be an All-Star instead of just taking the next step. And we had a lot of guys who could all play. He didn’t stand out in camp. He didn’t play well enough to earn what he’s earning now.”

Leonard, Antetokounmpo Named Players Of The Week

April 7th, 2025 at 2:54pm CST by Rory Maher

Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard has been named the Western Conference’s Player of the Week, according to the NBA (Twitter link), while Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo has won the award in the East.

Leonard helped guide the Clips to a perfect 4-0 week for games played from March 31 to April 6, averaging 24.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.8 steals on .513/.381/.857 shooting.

The two-time Finals MVP missed the first 35 games of the season due to a knee injury, but he has rounded into form at a critical time, scoring 20-plus points in each of the past 12 games. Los Angeles is currently the No. 5 seed in a remarkably close Western Conference playoff race.

Antetokounmpo was spectacular in leading the Bucks to three victories last week (he missed one game, which Milwaukee also won), averaging 36.0 points, 12.3 rebounds, 13.7 assists and 1.7 steals on .638/.500/.838 shooting.

The 30-year-old superstar’s efforts helped the Bucks secure their ninth straight playoff appearance. Milwaukee is currently 44-34, the East’s No. 5 seed.

This is Antetokounmpo’s third Player of the Week award in 2024/25, and 26th of his career. It’s the first time Leonard has earned the weekly honor this season, and 10th time in his career.

Despite averaging 45.0 points, 12.3 rebounds, 10.7 assists and 2.0 steals on .620/.448/.800 shooting in three appearances last week, including an incredible 61-point triple-double, Nikola Jokic somehow wasn’t nominated for the West’s award, presumably because the Nuggets went 0-4 (he missed one game).

Instead, Leonard beat out Deni Avdija, Stephen Curry, Anthony Edwards, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Austin Reaves, Alperen Sengun and teammate Ivica Zubac. The other nominees in the East were OG Anunoby, Donovan Mitchell, Magic forwards Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, Bulls guards Josh Giddey and Coby White, and Pacers teammates Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner (Twitter link).

Five West Teams Have 32 Losses In Regular Season’s Final Week

April 7th, 2025 at 1:55pm CST by Rory Maher

The Thunder clinched the No. 1 seed entering the Western Conference playoffs two-plus weeks ago, but the remaining 19 postseason seeds are up for grabs in the final week of the 2024/25 regular season, according to the NBA (Twitter link).

There isn’t too much drama in the East, with the Cavaliers and Celtics leading the conference for the entire season. Four other clubs — the Knicks, Pacers, Bucks and Pistons — are guaranteed of making the playoffs, while the Magic, Hawks, Bulls and Heat will be in the play-in tournament. But the final seeds are technically still up in the air.

The West is a totally different story, however. Five teams — the Nuggets, Clippers, Warriors, Timberwolves and Grizzlies — each have 32 losses, with the Nuggets holding a slim half-game lead on their competitors by virtue of having one more win.

After losing four straight, the Nuggets are currently 47-32, while the Clippers, Warriors, Timberwolves and Grizzlies all have identical 46-32 records. They are, in that order, the current Nos. 4-8 seeds in the West.

This is the first time since the current playoff format was introduced in 1983/84 that the Nos. 4-8 seeds in a conference are within a half-game of each other in the standings 78-plus games into a season, per the NBA (Twitter link).

It’s also just the second time teams ranked 3-8 in a conference are within two games of each other 78-plus games into a season, with the other also coming in the West back in ’17/18.

The 48-30 Lakers currently hold the No. 3 spot, but could theoretically end up anywhere from No. 2 to No. 8 (moving up to No. 2 would require the Lakers to win their final four games and the Rockets to lose their final three; Houston is guaranteed of being either No. 2 or No. 3)

If the Lakers hold onto the No. 3 seed — certainly not a given considering how unpredictable and close the West is — and there ends up being a five-way tie between the current 32-loss clubs, then the final standings would be as follows, according to ESPN researcher Matt Williams (Twitter link via ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk):

Timberwolves
Clippers
Warriors
Nuggets
Grizzlies

The Suns have the league’s highest payroll, but are in imminent danger of falling out of the West’s play-in picture. Phoenix has dropped six straight and is three games behind No. 9 Sacramento and two-and-a-half behind No. 10 Dallas with only four games remaining.

Clippers Are In Playoff Mode As They Try To Avoid Play-In Tournament

April 5th, 2025 at 11:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Clippers are in playoff mode already as they try to climb into the top six in the West and avoid the play-in tournament, according to Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. L.A. has won 10 of its last 12 and entered tonight in a three-way tie for the sixth spot. “Everyone is treating every game like the playoffs. Honestly, it’s fun,” Ivica Zubac said. “I think what the NBA did with that play-in, I think it’s a really good thing. It’s very competitive and it’s been good. The last few weeks have been fun. You just kind of lock in, treat it as a playoff game, a must-win, and I’m sure other teams are like that too.”