No. 1: Ivica Zubac
The LA Clippers front office is probably still laughing about the way in which they acquired Ivica Zubac from the Los Angeles Lakers. In exchange for him, the Clippers merely had to give up Mike Muscala — an average big that would appear in just 17 games for the Lakers before signing with the Oklahoma City Thunder this summer.
In Zubac, the Clippers are getting plenty more than Muscala would have offered, and that’s only a small part of the reason why the Clippers were willing to agree to a four-year, $28 million deal with him this summer.
Not only is Zubac already a better player, but at 22, Zubac’s NBA future is much brighter — especially since he already has three years of NBA experience under his belt.
In 26 games with the LA Clippers, Zubac posted averages of 9.4 points and 7.7 rebounds in just over 20 minutes per game. The numbers aren’t everything, though, and there’s a good chance that he would have performed better had he not been suffering through multiple hand injuries as the season wound down.
Zubac was also a surprisingly good defender in a Clippers uniform, which is something that wasn’t really talked about during his time with the Lakers. He looked the part of a legitimate rim protector, and his impact helped the Clippers finish the season with an 18-8 record.
Zubac can still improve in 2019-2020, and considering the videos we’ve seen of him putting in work, it looks as though adding a three-point shot is something he considers to be very important. As a true seven-footer, that would help him to become an even bigger part of LA’s gameplan.
If he doesn’t take an enormous step forward during the upcoming season, he’ll have plenty of time to continue improving and becoming one of the better bigs in the league. As he spends the next four years of his career with the LA Clippers, he could become that and more.