3. There’s more flexibility than some realize.
The future isn’t as set in stone for the LA Clippers as some would think after the Paul George trade.
As a reminder of our pick situation:
- 2020 1st round pick traded to NYK
- 2021 1st round pick swap rights traded to NYK
- 2021 2nd round pick traded to Charlotte
- 2022 1st round pick traded to OKC
- 2022 2nd round pick acquired from Atlanta (protected 31-55)
- 2023 1st round pick swap rights traded to OKC
- 2023 2nd round pick acquired from Detroit
- 2024 1st round pick traded to OKC
- 2025 1st round pick swap rights traded to OKC
- 2026 1st round pick traded to OKC
So to summarize, we won’t currently have first-round picks in 2020, 2022, 2024, and 2026 and we won’t have a second-round pick in 2021.
It’s tremendously unlikely that we’ll have a worse record than the Knicks next year, so that pick will be ours. If OKC begins a rebuild, I would argue that it’s pretty likely we’ll be better than OKC in 2023, so we’ll keep that pick. 2025 is so far in the future, I won’t even make a prediction.
Thanks to the Stepien rule, we’ll still have picks every other year going forward. And while we can’t trade those picks in advance, we could always agree to draft a player then trade them. Or we could find talent in the draft. There’s also frequently a second-round pick sold for cash, and Ballmer has never been afraid to spend money.
I’m not advocating for any particular player to get traded, but we have tradable contracts. If the front office chooses to go that way, Patrick Beverley and Lou Williams could be attractive to a team, and they are on friendly contracts. Montrezl Harrell could walk in free agency, or he could be sign-and-traded, or he could come back. The roster can be turned over, if Lawrence Frank and his staff want to.
If they play their cards right, the Clippers can have space for a max contract in the offseason after the 2020-2021 season. That could be used to bring in another big name like Giannis Antetokounmpo, if the rumors are true, or it could be spread out to bring in a few mid-level players. Options for upgrading through free agency exist.
There’s also youth on the team. Ivica Zubac, Landry Shamet, and Terance Mann are all under 25 and have shown varying levels of promise. Amir Coffey and Mfiondu Kabengele haven’t seen much time but are young and can be developed. It’s on the developmental staff to make it happen.
Do we have the most flexible future possible? Not at all. But there are options going forward, and this front office has shown several times over that we should trust them to make the right decisions.