Harden, Leonard ‘Shocked’ By Clippers’ Split With CP3
Clippers stars James Harden and Kawhi Leonard learned of the team’s split with Chris Paul via social media and told reporters on Wednesday that the news came as a surprise, according to reports from Joe Vardon of The Athletic and Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
“I’m just as confused and shocked as you guys, the world,” Harden said after the Clippers’ win over Atlanta. “Definitely surprised me. But not just Chris, it’s a lot that we were dealing with. But that is out of my hands. I got to focus on what I got to focus on and what I can control. I guess the front office felt that was the best decision for the organization.”
“It was shocking to me,” Leonard said, adding that he had to re-read the news. “I guess they had a conversation, and front office made a decision.”
Reporting on Wednesday indicated that tension between Paul and head coach Tyronn Lue was one of the factors that contributed to the team’s decision to part ways with the veteran point guard. Lue addressed the situation prior to the Clippers’ game vs. Atlanta, telling reporters that this isn’t the outcome he was hoping for when L.A. signed Paul over the summer.
“Do I want to see CP go out like this? No, I have a lot of respect for him,” Lue said. “He’s been a friend of mine over the years, and you don’t want to see a great go out like this. I’m pretty sure he will find something because he’s a great player. [But] I didn’t want to see it end like this.
“… I don’t like it. It just didn’t work out like we thought it would. I don’t like it for CP. It just wasn’t a good fit, and we understood that. It was an organization (decision), they made the choice and so moving forward, we got to see what we do.”
Vardon, Sam Amick, and Law Murray of The Athletic shared more details on how the relationship between the Clippers and Paul deteriorated to the point that a divorce was necessary. Here are a few highlights from their report:
- Paul’s “constant criticism” of the team was felt in “every corner” of the organization during the first several weeks of the season as the Clippers got off to a disappointing start. League sources tell The Athletic that members of the organization – including some teammates, as well as Lue and his coaching staff – took exception to the “acerbic” and “disparaging” nature of Paul’s perspective.
- While Paul has been known to be an effective mentor to young players in the past, there weren’t many young players on the Clippers’ roster for him to take that role with, and his criticisms frequently came off as a “grating” and unhelpful among a group heavy on veteran players and coaches, league sources tell The Athletic.
- Paul had multiple meetings with Clippers officials in recent weeks, with one source telling The Athletic that the club wanted him to stop “locker room lawyering.” League sources also told The Athletic that CP3 was “openly critical” of the team during a film session on Tuesday, though by that point the front officed had already made the decision to part ways with him.
- When the Clippers signed Paul over the summer, they went to great lengths to manage his expectations for his role – which would be a modest one – in the hopes of avoiding a situation like this. Because he signed as a free agent, he’s not trade-eligible until December 15, so it remains to be seen whether the team will wait until then to try to work out a deal or if he’ll be waived earlier than that. President of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said during a media session on Wednesday that the club will work with Paul’s representatives to determine next steps.
Clippers Rumors: Zubac, Collins, Paul, Sanders, Lue, Bogdanovic
There have been “mixed signals” about whether the Clippers would seriously entertain the idea of discussing a trade involving standout center Ivica Zubac this season, according to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints, who hears that no player on the roster has generated more interest from teams around the league than Zubac.
If the Clippers ultimately decide they’re willing to explore moving Zubac, the expectation is that they’d seek at least two first-round picks, sources tell ClutchPoints. Siegel wonders if the Celtics, who have a hole in the middle, could make a play for Zubac using Anfernee Simons‘ expiring contract, noting that L.A. had interest in Simons before he was traded from Portland to Boston. However, that sounds like mere speculation at this point.
One thing that seems clear, according to Siegel, is that the Clippers are open to making a deal involving John Collins and his expiring $26.6MM contract. L.A. acquired Collins from Utah in a three-team trade over the summer, but he has yet to make the sort of impact the team had hoped for. His scoring average of 11.9 points per game is his lowest since his rookie season in 2017/18, and he’s knocking down just 31.6% of his three-point tries while averaging a career-worst 4.9 rebounds per game.
Here’s more on the Clippers:
- Keith Smith of Spotrac and a panel of ESPN insiders explore potential next steps for the Clippers and Chris Paul after their surprising divorce. As Smith observes, if the Clippers waive Paul within the next two or three weeks, it would be a strong signal that the team plans to promote Kobe Sanders from his two-way contract to a standard roster spot sooner rather than later. L.A. would need to add a replacement for Paul within 14 days of waiving him and doesn’t currently have enough room below its first-apron hard cap to sign a free agent to a minimum-salary contract. Converting Sanders, who could get a rookie minimum deal that wouldn’t be subject to tax variance, would be the only viable path to filling the 14th roster spot right now if Paul is cut.
- Paul “called out” teammates, coaches, and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank during his brief stint as a Clipper, a league source tells Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. According to Turner’s source, Paul apologized, but “everyone was fed up.” Turner adds that there’s no guarantee Paul will end up signing with another team once he’s officially let go by L.A., given his age, his declining production, and his “powerful” voice in the locker room, which not every team would welcome.
- Amid rumors that head coach Tyronn Lue and Paul weren’t on speaking terms in recent weeks, Frank told reporters today that Lue is a “hell of a coach” and that he’ll remain in his current position “for a long time,” per Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link).
- The Clippers initially stated that Bogdan Bogdanovic was considered day-to-day due to his left hip contusion, but the veteran guard will miss a seventh consecutive game on Wednesday as a result of the injury, tweets Law Murray of The Athletic. Bogdanovic last suited up on November 20.
Clippers Announce They’re ‘Parting Ways’ With Chris Paul
11:13 am: Paul clashed with members of the Clippers’ organization as a result of his leadership style, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link), who hears from sources that the team felt the veteran point guard had become “disruptive” in his efforts to vocally hold players, coaches, and front office members accountable.
Former Clippers guard Lou Williams made similar comments earlier in the day during an appearance on FanDuel’s Run It Back show, noting that Paul was attempting to hold players and coaches accountable and “had some criticisms” of the Clippers’ front office (Twitter video link).
According to Charania, head coach Tyronn Lue and Paul hadn’t been on speaking terms for several weeks. Haynes, meanwhile, reports (via Twitter) that Paul asked to meet with Lue a few weeks ago to discuss allegations that he had been a negative presence for the team and the Clippers’ coach refused to meet with him.
6:51 am: The Clippers have put out a statement announcing that they’re “parting ways” with future Hall-of-Famer Chris Paul, who signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the team over the summer for what will be his final year in the NBA.
NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link) first reported the news at around the same time Paul posted an Instagram story that reads, “Just found out I’m being sent home,” accompanied by a peace-sign emoji.
“We are parting ways with Chris and he will no longer be with the team,” Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said in a statement to Law Murray of the Athletic. “We will work with him on the next step of his career.
“Chris is a legendary Clipper who has had a historic career. I want to make one thing very clear. No one is blaming Chris for our underperformance. I accept responsibility for the record we have right now. There are a lot of reasons why we’ve struggled. We’re grateful for the impact Chris has made on the franchise.”
Sources confirm to Murray that the decision to part ways with the Clippers wasn’t Paul’s and wasn’t initiated by him.
A 12-time All-Star who made five of those All-Star appearances during his first stint with the Clippers from 2011-17, Paul returned to Los Angeles for his age-40 season in the hopes of providing his former team with some reliable depth behind star point guard James Harden.
However, the season hasn’t gone as planned for Paul or the Clippers, who are off to a miserable 5-16 start. The 21-year veteran averaged just 2.9 points and 3.3 assists in 14.3 minutes per game across 16 outings as a Clipper, shooting 32.1% from the floor. He fell out of the rotation for several games in November and has only returned in recent weeks as L.A. deals with a handful of injuries to key players.
Despite the apparent split between the two sides, the Clippers are unlikely to waive Paul anytime soon unless he agrees to a buyout. The team is currently operating just $1.28MM below its first-apron hard cap and doesn’t have the ability to sign a free agent to a prorated minimum-salary contract until January 7.
Since L.A. is carrying just 14 players on its standard roster, waiving Paul would drop that number to 13 and would require the club to get back to the 14-man minimum within two weeks. Given those roster and cap limitations, the Clippers will likely wait until Paul becomes trade-eligible on December 15 and explore the market for him at that time, assuming he’s not open to negotiating a buyout.
According to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (Twitter link), the Knicks have discussed the idea of targeting Paul in a trade to add point guard depth. New York is dealing with a hard cap of its own and would need to send out at least a minimum-salary player in order to accommodate Paul, who used to be represented by Knicks president of basketball operations Leon Rose when Rose was still a player agent.
As Murray writes, this development with Paul represents the latest instance of the Clippers unceremoniously divorcing from a key figure of their “Lob City” era. Back in January 2018, the team traded Blake Griffin to Detroit just a few months into his new five-year, maximum-salary contract with L.A.
Clippers Notes: Struggles, Powell, Harden, Zubac
The Clippers went just 2-13 in November, making it one of the worst months in franchise history, writes Law Murray of The Athletic. As Murray observes, the Clippers have had 13 or more losses in a month in the past, but none of the other versions of the team that achieved that ignominious feat had the sort of expectations entering the season that this one did.
Injuries have resulted in the Clippers relying on certain players more than they wanted to, Murray notes, with John Collins and Kris Dunn having entered the starting lineup in recent weeks despite head coach Tyronn Lue determining before the season that he preferred having both players coming off the bench.
Many of the Clippers’ offseason additions also haven’t worked out as expected. Center Brook Lopez and point guard Chris Paul have very much shown their age and have fallen out the rotation, while shooting guard Bradley Beal suffered a hip injury that will sideline him for the rest of the season.
A defense anchored by Ivica Zubac was one of L.A.’s strengths last season, when the team finished third in defensive rating. However, the Clippers have plummeted to 27th in that category this season, according to Murray, who writes that the club doesn’t get back on defense, doesn’t defend three-pointers or rebound well, and doesn’t force turnovers.
Here’s more on the struggling Clippers:
- The Clippers’ December began the same way their November did — with a loss at the hands of the Heat, led by former Clipper Norman Powell. Powell scored a team-high 30 points on 12-of-18 shooting and was a +33 in his 32 minutes on the court, as his former club fell to 5-16 on the season. “I would have never guessed that they were going to be 5-16 and where they’re at right now,” Powell said after the game, per Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.
- As Reynolds details, after the Heat opened the second half on a 9-0 run on Monday, Lue pulled his entire starting five just 86 seconds into the third quarter. Four of those five players eventually got back into the game, but James Harden – who had five turnovers and was a -39 in 20 minutes – didn’t return. According to Reynolds, Lue entered the post-game interview room almost immediately after the game ended, didn’t see anyone there, and left, so there wasn’t an opportunity to ask him about the lineup decision.
- As bad as the season has gone for the Clippers, they’re in a decent position to pivot away from their current roster if they’re not able to turn things around in the coming weeks, writes Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Substack link). While the Clippers don’t control several of their own draft picks in the next few years – including, most notably, the 2026 first-round pick they owe the Thunder – they also don’t have any long-term salary obligations on their books and could probably extract solid value for some of their veterans on the trade market. Zubac, in particular, would be a very popular target, given his age (28) and team-friendly contract (three years, $58.7MM).
Western Notes: Clippers, Suns, Rockets, Wembanyama, Spurs
Head coach Tyronn Lue thought having Kawhi Leonard back in the fold would help turn around the Clippers‘ disappointing season, but that hasn’t happened over the past four games, observes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. Los Angeles has dropped all four contests since Leonard returned and is now 5-15 after losing at home to a struggling Dallas team on Saturday.
“I know we’ve had some tough circumstances in the last five years, which is six years, but I have been able to figure it out. But this year, it’s been tough,” Lue said.
Lue has tried several different lineup combinations over the first 20 games, Carr writes, but none have been effective. With an injured and aging roster, both the present and future are looking pretty bleak, leading to fans on social media calling for major changes, including the ouster of Lue. Fans aren’t the only ones who are frustrated.
“The situation here is difficult,” James Harden said. “We’re not making shots offensively. Defensively, we just allow game-plan mistakes, we allow that to happen too many times, so that’s one of the reasons why we lose games.”
Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- On the other end of the spectrum, the Suns have been one of the most surprising teams in a positive way through the first quarter of the season. As Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic writes, Phoenix was widely projected to miss the playoffs in 2025/26, and those predictions looked accurate after the team started out 1-4. However, the Suns have gone 11-5 since and are currently 12-9, making them the No. 7 seed in the West. Whether the team’s success is sustainable remains to be seen, but Phoenix has dealt with its share of injuries as well and continues to find ways to remain competitive with players out.
- The 13-4 Rockets have the NBA’s second-best offense despite attempting the fewest three-pointers in the league and not shooting well on their two-point tries, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic. Houston’s unusual offensive strategy is reliant on dominating the boards, which leads to extra shot attempts — the Rockets are outrebounding their opponents by more than 10 per game, with most of that work coming on the offensive glass.
- Injured star Victor Wembanyama has been cheering on the Spurs as he continues to recover from a calf strain, per Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News. The French big man has been leading the team’s supporter section — nicknamed “The Jackals” — during recent home games. In fact, Wembanyama came up with the idea of the section and hand-picked the captains over the summer, McDonald writes. “The saying goes, when people show you who they are, believe them,” head coach Mitch Johnson said. “He’s been committed and invested. He’s trusted. He’s worked. He’s had his actions back up his words. It’s awesome.”
Latest On Chauncey Billups
Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups has been placed on unpaid leave by the NBA after being arrested as part of a federal investigation into an illegal poker operation with ties to the mafia.
According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, Billups has hired renowned defense attorney Marc Mukasey to represent him.
As Amick writes, Mukasey is a former prosecutor from New York who is well-known for taking on high-profile white-collar cases, including acting as an attorney in recent years for U.S. President Donald Trump. Mukasey is the son of former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Amick adds.
Billups was arraigned last week in federal court on one count of wire-fraud conspiracy and one count of money-laundering conspiracy. His next next court date is November 24 in Brooklyn, New York.
The attorney who represented Billups at last week’s arraignment in Portland said the 49-year-old disputes the charges.
Former NBA big man Tiago Splitter is serving as Portland’s interim head coach while Billups’ legal situation plays out.
Here’s more on Billups:
- While he wasn’t charged or named in the separate but related illegal sports betting case that resulted in the arrest of Terry Rozier, Billups fits the description of Co-Conspirator 8, who allegedly tipped of Eric “Spook” Earnest that the Blazers would go into tank mode ahead of a game on March 24, 2023. Carson Kessler and Nathan Fenno of The Athletic take a look at how Billups may have gotten to know Earnest, who is one of three people indicted in both cases. As the authors note, the 53-year-old Earnest had multiple extended stints in prison after pleading guilty to or being found guilty of various felony charges in unrelated legal cases.
- People around the Blazers and the league have been stunned by Billups’ indictment, writes Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. One such person is Billups’ former head coach with the Pistons, Larry Brown, who has been texting the Hall-of-Fame guard nearly every day over the past week. “He would be one of the last people I would think about involving himself with bad people,” Brown told ESPN. “If you talked to anybody that was involved with Chauncey, that spent time with him and knew his family, knew his kids, I think they’d be saying the same thing.” An unnamed associate whom Shelburne describes as close to Billups said they “didn’t even know” Billups gambled and that they’re concerned for the coach’s well being. “The thing that scares me for Chauncey is that he’s dealing with these mob guys,” the person said. “If this is true, if he set people up. … It could get nasty.”
- Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue refers to Billups as his best friend and the two have known each other since they were teenagers. Lue says he has spoken to Billups since he was indicted, as Shelburne relays. “When you’ve known somebody so long, you can just tell by their voice — if he’s OK,” Lue said. “Like I said, he’s confident in what’s going on. The toughest part just for him, just like his family going through with his daughters. But other than that, he’s really confident about the situation. So just hearing his voice, I can just see that he’s OK. So that was good to hear.”
Blazers Notes: Splitter, Billups, Bjorkgren, Lue
Tiago Splitter has been thrust into the NBA spotlight, taking over the Trail Blazers’ head coaching duties on an interim basis with Chauncey Billups on indefinite leave. The circumstances in which Splitter suddenly became the head coach were far from ideal, he told Joe Freeman of The Oregonian and other media members.
“Honestly, a tough moment. But I’ve got to do my job,” he said. “I’ve been in this position in a different level. But also, in a way, looking forward to show my skills and lead a team. So that was a positive part of it.”
Here’s more on the Blazers:
- Lead assistant coach Nate Bjorkgren had previous head coaching experience but Bjorkgren told general manager Joe Cronin that Splitter was the best choice to take over, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN reports. Bjorkgren felt he could best help the team in his current role, running the defense, Shelburne adds.
- In Splitter’s head coaching debut, Portland blew out Golden State, 139-119. “I would be embarrassed to sit here and blame fatigue when a team just came out and took it to us. It was about them and their great play,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, per Shelburne. “This city is going to really enjoy watching the Blazers. They play hard. They have a real identity. They’re doing a really good job of rebuilding the franchise after the long run with Terry [Stotts] and Dame [Lillard] and CJ [McCollum]. It’s been a rough couple of years, but they’ve used that time wisely and built a really good roster.”
- Who are the candidates to replace Billups if he’s not exonerated? Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian (subscription required) looks at a dozen potential replacements, including James Borrego, Mike Budenholzer, and Sam Cassell, among others.
- Tyronn Lue has been close friends with Billups for many years. The Clippers head coach said Billups is in good spirits. “Chauncey is my best friend that had to go through something like this, the allegations, his family, my goddaughters,” Lue said, per Janis Carr of the Orange County Register. “So, it was a tough day and you never want to see any of your friends go through anything like that.” Lue spoke with Billups on Thursday night. “Just to hear his voice saying that he’s OK, (I could tell) he’s good,” Lue said. “I could tell in his voice if it’s not really good, so he feels good. And that’s all I wanted to make sure of.”
- That flies in the face of Billups’ demeanor in court — emotionless with a hollow look in his eyes, Jason Quick of The Athletic writes. Billups is normally positive and forthright — one of the most popular former players and current coaches in the league — which makes the allegations against him even more shocking, Quick notes.
Clippers Notes: Beal, Miller, Paul, Depth, Aspiration
Veteran guard Bradley Beal signed a two-year contract with the Clippers this summer after a disappointing two-year run with the Suns ended in a buyout. The former All-Star said earlier this week that he already feels at home in Los Angeles, as Janis Carr of The Orange County Register writes.
“It’s weird. It feels like I’ve been here for a few years; I feel that comfortable with the group,” Beal said Monday. “They welcomed me in that way too and just made me feel at home and it’s been great, man.”
Beal and the Clippers will face Phoenix in Friday’s home opener after L.A. was shockingly — and thoroughly — dominated in Wednesday’s season-opening loss in Utah. The 32-year-old is on a minutes restriction after undergoing arthroscopic right knee surgery during the offseason, tweets Law Murray of The Athletic.
Here’s more on the Clippers:
- Third-year forward Jordan Miller is dealing with left hamstring soreness and will be reevaluated in about a week, Murray adds. Miller, the 48th overall pick of the 2023 draft, is on a two-way contract with the Clippers.
- Chris Paul will make his Clippers homecoming on Friday after several years away from the organization, but don’t expect him to get swept up in the emotions of the moment, according to Carr. “I’ll definitely be happy and grateful to be here, but I’d be too locked in to really process what’s all happening,” the 40-year-old point guard said this week. Paul, a future Hall of Famer, signed a one-year deal with the Clips in free agency after spending last season in San Antonio.
- As Murray writes for The Athletic, the Clippers are relatively long in the tooth, but they have a talented and deep roster, which may be challenging for head coach Tyronn Lue to navigate, given his preference for using nine-man rotations. “It feels good to have so many options and a lot of different combinations,” Lue said. “And every night could be different; every night is gonna be different. But it’s gonna take us 15, 20 games into the season to really understand our rotations, our chemistry, how we wanna play, who fits well together. So, I’m excited about that.” When the team is at full strength, Murray views Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nicolas Batum as the most likely veterans to be out of the rotation.
- Robert O’Connor and Harriet Ryan of The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) take an in-depth look at Aspiration co-founder Joe Sanberg and the allegations that the Clippers used the now-bankrupt “green bank” company to circumvent the salary cap via a lucrative no-show endorsement deal with Kawhi Leonard. According to the WSJ, Sanberg told a high-ranking Aspiration executive the Clippers initiated the idea of the endorsement contract with Leonard, who was injured at the time. “This is important to the Clippers,” the executive recalled Sanberg saying. While some top Aspiration officials understandably had significant reservations about the deal, they purportedly did not question whether it was a means for owner Steve Ballmer and the Clippers to bypass the cap, per O’Connor and Ryan.
Latest On Bradley Beal
After he was hired as the Suns‘ head coach in June, Jordan Ott met with Bradley Beal and shared his plan for how the team could use the veteran shooting guard next season, writes ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. However, according to Windhorst, Beal had already decided after meeting with agent Mark Bartelstein that he wanted to move on from Phoenix.
“We couldn’t take the chance [of another lost year],” Bartelstein told Windhorst. “This decision was about basketball. Bradley wants to play in big games and in big moments.”
When Phoenix traded Kevin Durant to Houston for a package headlined by another shooting guard – Jalen Green – it cemented Beal’s decision.
According to Windhorst, the Suns and Timberwolves had discussed the possibility of a Durant package that would’ve included Rudy Gobert, Donte DiVincenzo, Terrence Shannon Jr., and the No. 17 pick in this year’s draft, which could’ve left an opening for Beal in the Suns’ lineup. But with Durant uninterested in playing in Minnesota, the Wolves were unwilling to move forward on those talks and Phoenix pivoted to the Rockets’ offer.
After the Durant trade was completed, the Suns gave Beal and Bartelstein permission to speak to other teams, and more than 20 showed interest, sources tell ESPN. Beal ultimately met via Zoom with about a half-dozen of them, and after trading Norman Powell to Miami earlier this month, the Clippers emerged as the clear frontrunner.
[RELATED: Bradley Beal Agrees To Buyout With Suns, Plans To Sign With Clippers]
According to Windhorst, while Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and head coach Tyronn Lue spoke to Beal about what the club could offer him, the most noteworthy pitch came from star guard James Harden, who lobbied the front office to pursue Beal and then reached out directly to the guard (and to Bartelstein) to recruit him.
In addition to selling Beal on the Clippers’ depth and how he would fit in with the current group, Harden pointed out that his own career has been rejuvenated in Los Angeles after disappointing stints in Brooklyn and Philadelphia, Windhorst notes. After a couple discouraging years in Phoenix, Beal is in a similar spot — he’ll be looking to bounce back next season and views L.A. as a good spot to do it.
“No one wants to be released. There’s heartache with that,” Bartelstein said. “But Bradley wants to be in a position where no one remembers he got released, that they’ll remember how he plays next season.”
Here’s more on Beal:
- The Suns needed Beal to give up at least $13.9MM of the $110.8MM still owed to him in order to legally waive-and-stretch his contract. Phoenix’s front office actually pushed for the 32-year-old to give up more than that, resulting in buyout talks getting “heated,” per Windhorst, who says Beal ultimately forfeited not a penny more than he needed to for the Suns to use the stretch provision. “There were some intense conversations,” Bartelstein said.
- Bartelstein also spoke to Mark Medina of Sportskeeda about why things didn’t work out for Beal in Phoenix and why he chose the Clippers over other suitors. Citing Beal’s existing relationship with Lue, along with the Clippers’ vision for his client, Bartelstein explained that L.A. checked all their boxes. “He was heavily pursued by pretty much everybody in the NBA and certainly almost every top-tier team,” Bartelstein said. “I had made it known in conversations around the league that we were looking to go somewhere where he could play in really big games and big moments. We knew there were places he can go to and score 30 points a game again. But he really wanted to go to a place where he can compete for a championship. With that in mind, we quickly narrowed down to six or seven teams that we thought were in that world and with the roster shaped up, it would be a great fit for Brad. … It was a really tough choice. … We felt at the end of the day that the Clippers was the very best fit.”
- The Suns’ trade for Beal will go down as one of the biggest missteps in franchise history, contends Doug Haller of The Athletic. Haller doesn’t blame Beal, noting that he was willing to change his game and continued to score efficiently. However, his production didn’t match his salary, Haller writes, which was a microcosm of the Suns as a whole — the league’s most expensive roster failed to win a playoff game during the two years after acquiring Beal.
Clippers Notes: Harden, Leonard, Lue, Powell, Batum
For years, one of the storylines surrounding the Clippers has been what they might be able to accomplish if their stars were ever healthy for the playoffs, writes Law Murray of The Athletic. It finally happened this season, but L.A. was ousted in the first round for the third straight year after losing Game 7 Saturday night in Denver.
The Clippers are coming off a 50-win season, surprising many observers who expected them to take a step back after losing Paul George in free agency. James Harden proved he’s still among the league’s most durable and versatile guards, playing 79 games and averaging 22.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 8.7 assists per night. Kawhi Leonard was brought along slowly, but was eventually able to overcome last season’s knee inflammation, putting up 21.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 37 games and playing vintage-level defense.
Although there might be limits to the Clippers’ future with their two best players well into their 30s, coach Tyronn Lue is encouraged by the way the season played out.
“I think James having to carry such a heavy load with Kawhi missing 45 games and just having to carry that load all season long, he did a great job with that,” Lue said. “And I think Kawhi, coming back and having the confidence in his knee that he can play more minutes, he can get through these games. And those two together for a whole season, I think, would be tremendous. So when you have your best player missing (45 games), it’s kind of hard to really jell the way we wanted to. But I thought we did a good job of just sticking with it. And whatever we needed to do to win that night, they did it.”
There’s more on the Clippers:
- Harden, who has a $36.4MM player option for next season, is expected to remain with the team and the details of a potential new contract will be worked out this summer, Murray adds. That will ensure stability moving forward, as Leonard just finished the first season of a contract extension that runs through 2026/27, and Ivica Zubac, Norman Powell, Derrick Jones, Kris Dunn and Bogdan Bogdanović are all under contract for next season.
- Lue is also expected to be back despite the early exit. He signed an extension last spring that runs through 2029, and Murray states that he still has a strong relationship with owner Steve Ballmer and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank. Law notes that one of Lue’s best decisions from the past year was hiring veteran coach Jeff Van Gundy to run the team’s defense.
- Mark Deeks of HoopsHype examines the financial decisions the Clippers will face this summer, including a potential extension for Norman Powell. The 31-year-old guard is coming off the best scoring season of his career, averaging 21.8 PPG in 60 games, and he’s eligible for a three-year extension worth up to about $92MM.
- Nicolas Batum, who has a $4.9MM player option for next season, will also be worth monitoring, Bobby Marks of ESPN states in his overview of the Clippers’ offseason (subscription required). Marks notes that the team’s bench will suffer if Batum opts to retire or test free agency.