The first two weeks of the 2023-24 season for the LA Clippers have been a true rollercoaster. While the team started out performing at a high level on both ends of the floor, the abrupt trade for James Harden has, at least for the moment, caused a significant disruption.
LA has struggled to get it going offensively, leading to them dropping their last three contests. Still, all is not lost. The Clippers have the right pieces to win a lot of games and be a true threat in the Western Conference this season if they can figure things out.
Let’s look at a few players in the Clippers’ locker room that have played exceptionally well to start the season and substantially boosted their stock. We will also examine some others that have suffered from a slow start and look at what they can do to turn things around.
Stock soaring: Norman Powell
With the departure of several rotation wing players like Nicolas Batum and Robert Covington, the Clippers’ depth has taken a hit. As such, players like Norman Powell have been tasked with picking up the slack.
Powell has done an excellent job of that early in the season. His shooting percentages from the field overall and from three-point territory are both up from last season, and he has averaged the most minutes of any non-starter on the roster.
His stock continues to rise after he finished last season third in scoring average for the Clippers. Powell’s continued stellar play can go a long way toward keeping LA’s offense operating efficiently while they adapt to life with Harden.
Fading fast: P.J. Tucker
P.J. Tucker is one of the most grizzled, playoff-tested veterans in the NBA. Every time he steps on the floor, he brings a certain toughness and intelligence that the Clippers will be in need of after their wing depth was depleted following the Harden trade.
In that way, P.J. Tucker could end up being an extremely valuable piece in LA, especially come playoff time. But for now, his stock is falling down into the negatives.
Some of P.J.’s poor performance to start the season can be attributed to age. After all, he is the second-oldest player in the league behind LeBron James, at 38 years old. But the degree to which he has been a non-factor so far is still concerning.
In his first three games with the Clippers, Tucker has shot just 1-for-6 from the floor without making a three-pointer. One of the most valuable skills he was supposed to bring to LA was catch-and-shoot ability from beyond the three-point arc. His lack of production there is not helping the Clippers’ offensive woes.
His minute distribution has been more or less on par with where it was in Philadelphia last season, so this should not be a matter of Head Coach Tyronn Lue playing him more or less. Tucker simply has to clutch up and start knocking down shots in rhythm to fully realize his three-and-D ability for the Clippers.
Stock soaring: Bones Hyland
Traded to LA from the Denver Nuggets at the trade deadline last February, Bones Hyland had a bit of a rocky start to his time with the Clippers. At his core, Hyland is a no-fear, high-volume scorer that relies heavily on his speed and athleticism.
As a youngster, he had also been known to sometimes make rash decisions with the basketball. This led to some public disagreements between him and his teammates, most notably Mason Plumlee, last season.
His performance in the playoffs did not help his case to be in the Clippers’ future rotation much either. He shot just 34% from the floor and 25% from three in LA’s five first-round games against the Phoenix Suns, and was routinely outsmarted by the older Chris Paul on offense.
With all those factors working against him, many wondered if Hyland was mature enough to move forward with the team. But his performance so far this season has helped to quell some of those worries, as Bones scored in double figures on very decent efficiency through the Clippers’ first five games.
Since then, his numbers have taken a bit of a hit, but it is pretty obvious he is one of the many casualties of now having James Harden in the rotation. Bones Hyland has shown early on this season that he can thrive and be a net positive if placed in the proper role offensively.
Fading fast: James Harden
The James Harden era in LA has certainly gotten off to a rough start. After the Clippers orchestrated the trade to bring him in on October 30, the expectation was that things would look a lot different from day one.
That has absolutely been the case to this point, and not in a good way. It was understood that adding Harden to the mix meant incorporating yet another former MVP that would likely need the ball in his hands a lot to be effective.
It is still early, but that is what has been playing out on the court through Harden’s two games with the team. His shooting splits and box score numbers are not particularly ugly, but those who have watched how he looks within the flow of the game can tell you it is far from a seamless fit so far.
What was once a much more free-flowing offense has stalled a bit, and the Clippers have failed to break 100 points in their two games with Harden on the floor (both losses). Players are having to learn new roles to accommodate the changing schemes that come with James Harden on the roster.
Things can still be turned around, but it is safe to say Harden’s stock is down for the time being.