The LA Clippers will have two second-round picks in the 2019 NBA Draft, where there should still be plenty of talent awaiting selection.
I was thinking that the 2019 NBA Draft is still a while away, and it is, depending on how you look at it.
The draft won’t commence until June 20, which is over a month away and after the NBA Finals come to a close. Considering we’re still in the second round of matchups right now, that does seem far out.
At the same time, a month isn’t long at all, and teams both in and out of the playoffs are surely already very deep into their analysis of this year’s wave of prospects. Because of that, we figured we ought to take a look as well and see what the LA Clippers could be getting their hands on this time around.
Unlike last year, the Clippers won’t have any lottery picks — or first-round picks, for that matter — to work with. Because they made the playoffs, their own lottery-protected first-round selection will convey to the Boston Celtics, and LA won’t make any picks until the later half of the second-round. They could still trade their way into a first, but that doesn’t seem likely. And even then, that pick would probably be packaged with other future-firsts in an attempt to trade for a superstar.
The good news, though, is that the Clippers have two such picks in that range — Nos. 48 and 56 — and there should still be plenty of talented players available.
A majority of the players the LA Clippers have signed through the upcoming season are guards, so it seems fair to assume they’ll target wings and bigs with their own picks. Talent is talent though, and Jerry West tends to have a knack for finding some of the best available.
We’ll have more draft coverage coming as it draws closer, but for now, here are five second-round prospects that may be worth a look.