Give up on: BJ Boston
Taking a flier on BJ Boston with a late second-round pick in the 2021 NBA Draft was not a terrible move by the LA Clippers. However, in the two seasons he’s been with the Clippers, he hasn’t developed as the team had originally hoped.
There are a couple of reasons why it may be time for the Clippers to part ways with Boston, if not now for sure in the near future. For one, he’s entering the final year of his contract with the team and has now shown any concrete and sustained reasoning for why he should be retained after this season. Secondly, in a loaded backcourt, to say that Boston would have an uphill battle to carve out a spot in the team’s rotation this season, barring injury, would be a huge understatement.
Realistically speaking, there’s not a path toward Boston being a contributor for the Clippers this season. At the moment, you can make the argument that Boston is behind Russell Westbrook, Paul George, Terance Mann, Norman Powell, Bones Hyland, and even Jason Preston in the Clippers’ depth chart. LA only has a certain amount of minutes to go around in the backcourt and there doesn’t appear to be much of a role remaining for Boston.
It almost seems like a foregone conclusion that Boston either becomes part of the Harden trade package or he ends up being retained and then let go at some point this season or shortly after.