Hoops Rumors

Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2025 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, $81,500,000. Second-year player option (partially guaranteed for $13,317,307 if exercised). Trade kicker (15%). Re-signed using Bird rights.
• Brook Lopez: Two years, $17,937,500. Second-year team option. Signed using non-taxpayer mid-level exception.
• Nicolas Batum: Two years, $11,483,280. Second-year team option. Trade kicker (15%). Re-signed using Non-Bird rights.
• Bradley Beal: Two years, $10,975,700. Second-year player option. Trade kicker (15%). Signed using non-taxpayer mid-level exception.
• Chris Paul: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
• Patrick Baldwin Jr.: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.
• Jason Preston: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.
• TyTy Washington Jr.: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.

Trades

• Acquired the draft rights to Kobe Sanders (No. 50 pick) from the Knicks in exchange for the draft rights to Mohamed Diawara (No. 51 pick) and the draft rights to Luka Mitrovic.
• Acquired John Collins (from Jazz) in a three-team trade in exchange for Norman Powell (to Heat), the Clippers’ 2027 second-round pick (to Jazz), and cash ($2.5MM; to Jazz).

Draft picks

• 1-30: Yanic Konan Niederhauser
  • Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $14,091,596).
• 2-50: Kobe Sanders
  • Signed to two-way contract.

Two-way signings

• Trentyn Flowers
  • One year, $85,300 partial guarantee.
• Jordan Miller
  • One year, $85,300 partial guarantee (will increase to $318,218 at start of regular season).
• Kobe Sanders
  • Two years, $85,300 partial guarantee (will increase to $318,218 at start of regular season); second year non-guaranteed.

Departed/unsigned free agents

• Amir Coffey (Bucks)
• Patty Mills (unsigned)
• Ben Simmons (unsigned)

Other roster moves

• Waived Jordan Miller.
  • Miller was waived from a standard contract and re-signed to a two-way deal.
• Waived Patrick Baldwin Jr.
  • Baldwin was waived from a two-way contract and re-signed to an Exhibit 10 deal.

Salary cap situation

• Operating over the cap ($154.6MM) and above the luxury tax line ($187.9MM).
• Carrying approximately $194.7MM in salary.
• Hard-capped at $195,945,000.
• Three traded player exceptions available (largest worth $6,539,000).

The offseason so far

The Clippers’ decision not to match the Sixers’ four-year, maximum-salary offer for Paul George last July looks savvy in retrospect, following an injury-plagued 2024/25 campaign in which George’s production dropped off significantly. But even at the time of George’s departure, there was a strong case to be made that the Clippers made the right move choosing financial flexibility over a massive investment in an aging star.

With George on the books, the Clippers would’ve been operating in tax-apron territory for the foreseeable future, with limited resources to add quality role players to the roster. Without George, the club dropped below the first apron and had the ability to add Derrick Jones Jr., Nicolas Batum, and Kris Dunn a year ago via the mid-level exception, the bi-annual exception, and sign-and-trade, respectively.

The Clippers made excellent use of their spending flexibility again during the 2025 offseason. While the bi-annual exception wasn’t available again in 2025, the club used every dollar of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign center Brook Lopez and guard Bradley Beal. And because the Clippers’ team salary remained below the first apron, they had the ability to take back more salary than they sent out when they traded Norman Powell to Miami in a three-team deal that landed John Collins in L.A.

As effective as Powell was as a scorer and shooter in 2024/25 (21.8 PPG on .484/.418/.804 shooting), the Clippers seemed unlikely to extend his $20.5MM expiring contract and were able to bring in Beal, a replacement with a similar skill set, for a fraction of the price ($5.4MM). While Beal’s time in Phoenix was a disappointment, his production (17.6 PPG on .505/.407/.808 shooting over two seasons) will play a lot better when his cap hit comes in at roughly 1/10th of his previous maximum salary.

Even if you view Beal as a downgrade on Powell (which is debatable), the upgrades the Clippers were able to make in their frontcourt represent a worthwhile trade-off. Ivica Zubac made the All-Defensive second team and received Defensive Player of the Year votes on the heels of the best season of his career, but he doesn’t spread the floor at all on offense or rack up blocked shots on defense, so the club was seeking a new dimension up front and achieved that goal by bringing in Lopez and Collins.

Lopez was probably overextended as Milwaukee’s full-time center averaging 32 minutes per game, but he should thrive as a rim protector and outside shooter in a part-time role. Collins, meanwhile, will immediately become the best scorer in Los Angeles’ big man rotation. Lopez can anchor the defense when Zubac is off the floor, and Collins is capable of playing alongside either center, giving head coach Tyronn Lue more options in terms of two-big lineups.

The Clippers’ other notable veteran addition was a somewhat fortuitous one. There were probably teams willing to give Chris Paul more than the minimum-salary contract he ultimately signed, but those teams weren’t as conveniently located as the Clippers — reuniting with his former team will give the future Hall-of-Famer the ability to be around his family in Los Angeles, which was his top priority this offseason.

Paul will back up starting point guard James Harden, who received a slight raise on a new two-year deal after making the All-NBA third team this past season. Harden got a player option on that second year, but the Clippers protected themselves in the event of a major injury or drop-off in play. Only $13.3MM of Harden’s $42.3MM salary in 2026/27 will be guaranteed if he picks up his option.

Batum, Amir Coffey, and Ben Simmons were among the other Clippers veterans to reach unrestricted free agency this summer. While all three veterans logged regular minutes for the team down the stretch, Batum was the only one to maintain a rotation role in the postseason and was the only one of the three re-signed. After using the bi-annual exception to sign him a year ago, L.A. was able to give the forward a 20% raise using his Non-Bird rights.

Finally, the Clippers made two roster additions in the draft, including No. 30 overall pick Yanic Konan Niederhauser. At the time the Clippers made that selection, Zubac was the only center on the roster, and it looked like Niederhauser might get a shot to compete for regular minutes.

But the team subsequently acquired Lopez and Collins, and Niederhauser didn’t stand out at the Las Vegas Summer League. Unless he really impresses in camp or the Clippers have some frontcourt injuries to deal with, I expect the former Penn State standout to spend most of the first half of the season in the G League.

Up next

There shouldn’t be many items left on the Clippers’ offseason to-do list. They have one opening on their projected regular season roster, but don’t have enough breathing room below their hard cap to carry a 15th man into the regular season. Their two-way contract slots are all full. And Collins, the only extension-eligible player on the roster, could sign a new deal at any time between now and June 30, 2026, so he’s not facing any sort of October deadline.

Still, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be an entirely uneventful fall in L.A. in terms of roster moves. It’s worth noting, for example, that the team has already signed a handful of players with NBA experience (Patrick Baldwin Jr., TyTy Washington Jr., and Jason Preston) to Exhibit 10 contracts. Despite the current lack of openings, it wouldn’t surprise me if those camp invitees are given an opportunity to compete for a two-way deal, with Trentyn Flowers‘ spot perhaps the most at risk.