The LA Clippers already had a strong roster before they signed Kawhi Leonard and traded for Paul George, but now they’re looking like a title favorite.
The LA Clippers shocked the world on Friday night, signing superstar Kawhi Leonard to a four-year max deal and trading away Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari and an abundance of future draft selections in exchange for Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Paul George. The pairing is up there among the best in the league, and is arguably a stronger duo than the Los Angeles Lakers have in LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
But if we’ve learned anything from the Lakers during this free agency period, and if we’ve learned anything from the Clippers from their historic 2018-2019 campaign, it’s that it takes more than two stars to form a good team.
Luckily for the Clippers, they’ve still got one of the best benches and supporting casts in the league, and now have the stars to take them further than they could go in the 2018-2019 postseason, when they lost in six games to the Golden State Warriors.
Despite adding what appear to be the “final” puzzle pieces in Leonard and George, the Clippers’ roster is still incomplete. With their mid-level exception still available, it’s certainly possible that the Clippers could add at least one more solid contributor to the team. The best play there would be to re-sign JaMychal Green, who played a sizable role for the Clippers down the stretch of the season.
Of course, there are still several solid free agents available outside of Green. Quinn Cook, Khem Birch and Justin Holiday would all fill needs for the Clippers, and could end up there depending on the amount of money they’re willing to take. Holiday makes sense in particular, too, now that LA has waived Tyrone Wallace.
But before we start talking about who else the Clippers can add on to this roster, we should focus on who all we’ll be seeing suit up for LA during the 2019-2020 season, which could very well end up being one of the franchise’s most successful to date.
(Note: Players will be listed in alphabetical order by last name, depending on position)