Remember when the LA Clippers signed Brook Lopez this summer and everyone thought it was a savvy veteran move? Yeah, that lasted about three weeks. Lopez hasn't played in the Clippers' last five games due to the minimal production he brought. The Clippers simply don’t think he can help this team, and honestly, they’re not wrong.
In 17 games this season, Lopez averaged 6.3 points and 1.9 rebounds while shooting 40.4% from the floor. His interior defense, the foundation of his Milwaukee years, has evaporated, with just 0.8 blocks per game. A 7-foot-1 center averaging slightly over a single offensive rebound in all of November is almost impressively bad.
The Clippers should not have been caught off guard with Brook Lopez's decline
The warning signs were already blinking. Fans of the Milwaukee Bucks knew Brook Lopez was slipping, which is why Milwaukee pushed so aggressively to bring in Myles Turner this summer. Lopez played 31.8 minutes per game in last year’s regular season, but that number cratered to 14.8 in the playoffs.
Game 5 against the Pacers was his first time coming off the bench in a postseason game, and he looked completely overwhelmed by Indiana’s athleticism. A move to LA was never going to magically solve that.
The LA Clippers handed Lopez a two-year, $18 million deal that looked reasonable on paper but now appears to be wasted money on a sinking ship.
Sitting 13th in the Western Conference, the Clippers are already in crisis mode. Lopez’s inability to help is just another reminder that this roster was built on nostalgia and name recognition instead of players who can run the floor and play in the modern NBA.
The Clippers' next move regarding Brook Lopez is obvious
Brook Lopez is a nice depth piece and great locker room presence, but those qualities don't matter when you're at the bottom of the league and being benched in favor of Kobe Brown playing small-ball center.
The no-brainer move, that no one would disagree with, would be to trade Lopez in a desperate attempt to reignite LA's nosediving title hopes. However, finding a trade partner for a 37-year-old making $9 million might be harder than the Clippers think.
Lopez is a champion. He had a great run with the Milwaukee Bucks. But his career with the Clippers is effectively over before it ever really started, and it's a perfect microcosm of everything wrong with this franchise right now.