Los Angeles Clippers: Harden free agency, trade options, and more | 2025 Offseason Preview | Podcast

Los Angeles Clippers: Harden free agency, trade options, and more | 2025 Offseason Preview | Podcast

Thanks for joining everyone. I’m Yosi Goslin, NBA salary cap analyst. You can follow me on YouTube, Spotify, Apple for all my podcasts and salary casts uh all under my name, Yosi Goslin. You can also follow me on Twitter, Blue Sky, for all sorts of transaction analysis. Uh my third my newsletter, Third Apron, for even deeper analysis. And you can see all my salary cap information on capshets.com. Uh it’s going to be I made this announcement a couple times in previous episodes, but I’ll make it one last time. I’m now differentiating uh when I have a conversational uh show with uh a guest and um for this one. So I yeah, so this is a podcast and then whenever I do those solo shows where I do a lot of like salary cap analysis, I bring out the the spreadsheets. Uh that’s a salary cast. So you can see those are even have their own playlist and stuff. I just wanted to clarify that one last time uh in case you haven’t seen the previous ones. Uh another announcement, as you can see at the top, I’ve got the SBC logo. Uh so I am going to be an instructor there. If you guys don’t know what that is, it’s a an educational networking program that helps a lot of young people that want to break into the industry, get jobs. It’s been very successful in the past decade. So I’ll be helping out uh teaching the CAP. So if that’s something you’re interested in, just not necessarily even that. They also teach uh for like helping you with media uh an analytic analytics everything uh every facet you can join uh and I’ve got a little promotion going where if you sub uh you join uh it’s a week-long program in Vegas ring summer league you do the code third apron I will give you a a lifetime subscription to third apron uh you can check out the links or some free stuff so you can see what that’s like. Uh but that’s just a couple things just a couple announcements I wanted to get to. So today we’re going to discuss the Clippers. Uh a team that a lot of people just kind of ruled out. I think a lot of people thought they would probably be the worst team in the Pacific division. Uh for the most part, not a lot of belief there after the offseason they had. Uh they surpassed all expectations, won 50 games, uh almost won the first round. Uh so yeah, we’re going to talk the Clippers. And joining me to discuss, he’s a reporter and NBA writer for the Athletic. Does a lot of coverage uh for the Clippers as well, Law Murray. Lah, thanks for joining me and in general, like well, first, how are you? But also, I mean, how are you coming away with the result of this Clippers season? Hey man, thank you for having me. And um the Clippers season, you just mentioned it, low expectations coming in externally. Uh there are people who um and I will definitely say I’m one of those people because y’all can read whatever I wrote over the summer right after Paul George left right up until training camp. Like I felt like the Clippers were going to be right in the middle of the mix in the West. Um I thought they’d be a playin tournament team and they were better than that. They won 50 games. Um they would have been a playing tournament team if they didn’t finish the season on an eightgame win streak, but they did that. That’s a huge accomplishment for them. uh the playoffs were not um something that they can feel good about. You know, to lose a seven game series to a team that you actually outscored over the course of those seven games is is is is a is a rough way to go out. Uh they understood what they wanted to do. They were the better team to start that series. They were not the better team in the second half of the series pretty much after Aaron Gordon’s putback dunk. So that leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouths, especially when you consider how much um along their careers their stars are. I think that’s really difficult to know that you missed an opportunity to do something, especially you look at these playoffs now and you look at all the top teams losing home playoff games. That’s a really that that’s really tough. like that could have been you in the mix of trying to do something um both in terms of trying to get out of your own conference and then who knows what the East looks like. Who knows who comes out the East? Certainly it’s looking like a team that even if it is Boston or Cleveland, they’ve shown that they’re vulnerable and so it’s a huge missed opportunity for the Clippers in that regard, uh it’s going to be a tough pill to swallow. But if you kind of zoom out and look at the big picture, uh, and look at where they were at at the end of June going into July, uh, that team accomplished quite a bit this year. Yeah. So, I do want to zoom out and take a look at the general direction. Uh, because, yeah, what they did this season definitely has to have Clipper fans feeling really good. No one expected them to do this and they, like we we just discussed, they were like they were very close to getting out of the first round. Uh, I do wonder how long that type of trajectory, like just kind of being good, good enough to get in there, but maybe not quite enough to be true contender. I wonder how much that might last. So when when the Clippers reached that crossroad with Paul George where it you know seemed like it was a max or nothing you know there’s a lot of different reporting on what including from Paul George himself he said like his side of the story as far as like how negotiations went once they reached that crossroad where they had to decide whether they really wanted to match that Sixers deal or not. They made the right decision not to keep them and they also just I I think the roster is much better. They did a really good job replacing him on the margins, bringing in guys like Derek Jones, Chris Dunn, and I would say that George leaving helped elevate uh Norman Powell and Zubots a lot more. So, like the decision to let him go, that was right. But I think what but they got a lot of criticism heading in the last uh off season. And I think it’s more so the what’s more justified is kind of like everything that led up to it where uh they gave Kawhai this three-year extension. I suppose the expectation they wanted Paul George to take the same thing. He didn’t take it. They were probably hoping to play things out, see what the market is for him to and then decide from there. Uh but the threat of the Sixers, that was just like a thing that people knew they couldn’t do offer him a big deal. So if both sides are so far apart uh in retrospect just doesn’t look good that you know they didn’t try to trade him earlier or something just try to get some value for him and understand once they got Harden they were rolling they probably felt that the team was good enough to uh win a championship but they lost they you know they lost a good amount of value just having Paul George leave. And then the other thing uh while we’re on Harden, I just think like if if Paul George was a flight risk the entire season, uh I think it kind of makes that transaction make a little less sense. I know I’m like very critical on them right now, but I just kind of want to like, you know, just kind of put everything in perspective as far as their like what they’re doing right now because we saw Harden great floor raiser. He’s going to get you to the playoffs, going to get you at a pretty high seed. same story for the most part once you get to the playoffs. Um, so I’m just a little con I don’t know if confused is the right word, but I like, you know, I I guess that is why they’re doubling down on this iteration uh especially with Kawhai who’s getting a little older. Knee is always a question and they gave up more far out picks uh to get Harden. So, the thing is now they’re, you know, they don’t really have many assets, many ways to improve. It’s tough. They don’t really have that many draft picks to trade. They traded more of them out. They uh they don’t have their spending advantage anymore cuz they want to stay below the second apron. Maybe if the team is good enough, like where they’re really a legit top, you know, top team, okay, maybe like they’ll be willing to get in that range. And then they just don’t really have too many appealing players on the trade market in my opinion. Like I would say Zubots is probably the most coveted player on the Clippers right now a team would want and they’re not going to move him. So like you know I didn’t mean to like rant on them but I’m just the when you look at the bigger picture I just had to push back a little bit cuz I’m just not sure exactly where this is going. I understand they want to be in the mix at all times and they’ve been always in the mix for the past decade plus. But that’s just my my push back. I I I it’s great what they did this year, but if it’s going to be more or less the same story every year, then, you know, I don’t know how much how, you know, how fans might feel about just kind of continuing this. It might it feels like it’ll just kind of be the same thing going forward. Fan fans are fans are quite apathetic um about the team. um they I mean if if you if you look at a lot of the fan base or I don’t want to say a lot but um there’s there’s a there there’s a part of the fan base I can I think that’s the most objective way to say it that is just completely dissatisfied with where the team is at you know and you know what that’s going to be the case for the next year at least like that’s going to be the case as long as the front office is in place the head coaches in place. As long as Kawhai is there, um I bet you James is probably going to opt out and they’re going to rework his deal to match up with Kawaii because that’s the plan. The plan is I think there’s a part of the front office that understands that their best players are past their prime and you are you took your shot last year as in the 2024 season to maximize the end of the run and they fell short primarily because Kawhai’s body didn’t hold up. Kawhai is playing at a high level uh as well as he’s ever played for the Clippers uh going into well ending March 2024. Um April 2024 his knee flares up. He tried to play two playoff games in the Maverick series. It didn’t work out. Paul kind of had his mind he was at least a little bit distracted. He he didn’t play very well in the Maverick series. James played well until he until he didn’t play well. That’s usually how it goes with James. Um Russell Westbrook was on that team as well to for for the for the you know you had your whole four LA guys who were future Hall of Famers and uh Russ was being phased out over the course of that year and Russ felt that Russ wanted to be back and uh basically the Clippers had other ideas. So, uh, that this is a team trying to delicately thread being decent in the short term while keeping their powder dry for when they can acquire their next star to lead them. Um, that that star being someone who’s in their prime. And that’s tough because again, I think fans want one of two things. They want to know that their team is legitimately contending for a championship or if you’re going to not do that, they want guys who haven’t failed yet. You know, they they want young guys to play no matter how good or deserving they are to play. Um they want assets. I think I think a lot of fans look at other teams and it’s like, why can’t we trade for this person? Why can’t this, you know, non player pop for us? That kind of thing. And I mean the Clippers haven’t picked above 20, you know, they haven’t had a top 20 pick since Shay Gillis Alexander. And we all know what Shay Gillis Alexander is doing right now. I mean, this front office is not going to live that down. Like, they’re just not. And so, there’s a lot of dissatisfaction there. And if you’re Steve Bomber, you can say, “Okay, we might have an apathetic fan base in terms of what this team is doing in the short term and a lack of belief that they’re going to figure it out in the long term.” Or you can say, “We’re not going to tank. We’re going to be competitive. These regular season wins are going to feel good. We’ll get to the playoffs and we’ll see if we can actually make some noise given whatever team makes it to the playoffs in 2026.” Uh that’s what makes 2025 difficult because again no one I don’t think anyone was too beat up about how the Clippers were doing if you support that team while they were exceeding expectations. Um the fact that they were healthy and they played as well as they did to earn the fifth seed makes losing to a Denver Nuggets team that blew up their bl brain trust and had a bottom 10 defense. it makes it it makes that dissatisfying and that’s a tough thing. If you’re a fan of the Clippers, you’re probably not happy. Um, but if you are just again looking at all 30 teams and where their situation is and what their opportunities are if you’re being realistic, you’re like in the short term, yeah, they are going to be competitive. They’re they’re going to they’re they’re not I bet you their expectations won’t be as low going into this next season as they were fall 2024. That’s number one. And then step two is even though they don’t have avenues right now that you can obviously say they’re going to be a lot better, they do have opportunities to optimize the roster in front of them a little bit and there’s going to be it’s going to be interesting. I’m sure you’re going to bring up some things, but uh there’s going to be some ways to do that. I think there wasn’t a lot of confidence that the Clippers had their plan together when Paul George left because Paul George, they wanted Paul George to be there, you know, uh, but they weren’t going to max Paul George out or give him a no trade clause to save face because that’s doubling down on the mistake if you call it a mistake. And I don’t even consider the Shoes Alexander trade a mistake. I think that that’s a move that they made to give themselves a chance to be contenders. And for a variety of reasons, they didn’t accomplish what they set out to accomplish. It took Oklahoma City three years out of the playoffs. And then now you see the team Oklahoma City is two different teams that, you know, it didn’t work out for the Clippers. We’ll see if it works out for the Thunder. we can say it’s worked out because of the regular season, but if the Thunder don’t make it to the finals or they don’t win a championship, we’re going to look at that as a missed opportunity for them as well. Um, so I think things are the perception of the Clippers is probably better now than it was, like you said, when Paul left. Uh, you don’t max the dude like Paul George out. You don’t give him a no trade clause. When Paul left, it allowed them to balance their team better. It allowed them to, ironically, get the players that Paul George said the team was missing when they traded for James Harden. You know, they got Derrick Jones Jr., they got Chris Dunn, they got Nico Batum. They need to be better building their roster for potential playoff matchups, but I think they did a really good job building their roster to get through a regular season and they can actually build a better roster. Um, we’ll see what they do this off season. No, absolutely. When it comes I think they’ve proven that they’re especially even back to like 2019, 2018, they’re great at building at the margins and they proved it again last offseason. mention all the guys they brought in to with with their new added flexibility. Um, as far So, so you you mentioned look, the Clippers, no matter what, they’re going to stay competitive uh if they can. Uh, they just it seems like they have no interest in being out of the playoff business. Um, and uh I think they’re now like they seem like they’re going to break the record like eventually for like most is it most uh there’s some playoff record. I don’t know what it is, but like they’re going to is it most maybe most con no not consecutive, but they’re going to like they’re not going to be close to that for a while. Um, but they’ve had 14 seasons in a row with a winning record. They’ve missed the playoffs twice in those 14 seasons. They missed the playoffs in 2018. That was the year that they traded Blake Griffin and obviously they traded Chris uh the previous offseason, but they won 42 games that year. And then obviously uh they won 42 games in the 2022 season, but they flunked the playin tournament. So there’s not only a huge like they want to win 42 games, they want to keep that streak alive. They’re very proud of that organizationally, but they’re also like they don’t want any parts of the playing tournament. Like they played hard as hell because there are still some guys on that team who experienced what 2022’s failure was like. Um, and they don’t have a playoff streak worth writing home about, but they do have that uh consecutive um seasons with a winning record streak. Okay. Yeah, that’s what it was. Either Yeah. Either way, they’re going to try to win as as like anytime they can. They’re not going to they’re not going to bottom out. And a lot of that confidence probably comes for the way they were able to pivot away from the Chris Paul Blake Griffin era within like really like two years into Kawawaii and Paul George like very quickly. Uh so I see you know there’s a lot of teams that are already being rumored to target guys in 2026 for agency. Maybe they’re going to have cap space. Um it main issue with that just like tough now like a lot of players just extend good chance a lot of the top guys that could become available by then guys like Luca Darren Fox Jiren Jackson they’ll probably chances are they’ll already extend so you got to do a trade now uh it’ll be a lot difficult than it was back then where this is where like the Paul George thing kind of comes to effect where when the Clippers traded Blake Griffin they got out of they traded him you know pretty early. They got a lot of good stuff. They got that pick that became Shay Gildas Alexander. They got Tobias Harris who they turned I think into like another two first round picks. So, they had like a nice surplus of picks and they just and they also still had this deep roster. So, while the Clippers do have a deep roster now they could bring in another guide for, they just I they don’t have the same uh type of package that they did back then uh or the same amount of cap flexibility uh for 2026 as they did in 2019. So, it’s not quite the same. So, I understand any confidence or like a such a like the plan to make that kind of pivot and hopefully sometime soon where they could bring in another guy. Um, I just kind of struggle to see like with, you know, without the same amount of caps, without the same amount of picks, who exactly they might be able to get. So, I mean, if they are, if the plan is to at least run this back for like another year and then try to make some type of change, I mean, do you have any thoughts how they might go about that? Who they might pursue? I have tried to avoid talking about who because to be honest with you, 2026 doesn’t seem like a great time to be trying to get somebody. I think 2027 makes more sense because I’m looking at like like you said from a trade perspective, they don’t have a lot. They don’t like their stars don’t have that kind of trade value. And to be honest with you, they don’t control their own draft for the rest of this decade, right? So, their picks aren’t valuable. Um, and their stars aren’t valuable from a trade perspective. But, uh, they got big money expiring. That’s the biggest thing. And interested to see what happens with Harden. Um, again, I I I just expect him to opt out and get a deal that lines up with Kawaii. And that would make 2027 the big the big year to really look at something. Um, and so I think that’s really their their avenue. Uh, keep things you’re not you’re not paying three stars. Uh, you’re not paying a whole lot for the two that you have. Like I think Harden might get a little bit more money by opting out, but you look at the cap rising and you look at where I I don’t think James is going to command so much more that it limits the Clippers that much. Um, I I really just feel like right now it’s like optimize what you got and revisit this every offseason. Revisit in 2026, see what’s happening there. Uh, see if you know what what Kawhai’s health status is, if James declines or not. Um, he didn’t decline this year, you know, so that’s so that’s gives you a little bit of optimism, but then again, you gave him so much to do that workload. It’s like it’s going to come any year and you just got to be ready for that. Um and so 2026 is like okay be prepared for that if you can be in the position to do so. Um 2027 when contracts expire that’s going to be what’s interesting having all that flexibility. See who actually makes it to 2027 as an outright free agent. like who can be unrestricted in 2027 and then say, “Hey, look, we might be able to bring Kawawaii or James back on a lower number being that both of those guys will be over 35 years old and say, “These guys can help you. You’re not going to be by yourself. This is the program. This is what they’ve established.” And they’ll say, “Hey, like you can you can get whatever you want.” what kind of player that is. Haven’t really looked into that yet because to be honest with you, I’m just looking at what are they doing in 2025. Okay. Um but and and you know, a lot can change between now and then. Uh I think that they’re let’s just be real. They’re going to look at Descension. Like so many of these teams are built on what relationship does a star have with a team that can go downhill and open up the possibility of leaving. I go back to Shay Gillis Alexander. like things are great right now with the Oklahoma City Thunder, but the probably the one of the biggest fans of OKC not succeeding or or having major letdowns in the postseason might be the Clippers, ironically, cuz it’s like if you can say, “Hey, look, you didn’t get it done here. Maybe you do want to, you know, instead of signing that extension to stay, you go elsewhere.” I don’t think Shay’s built like that. I think Shay’s I think Shay’s going to be there and commit to OKC. But if you’re the Clippers, that’s how you got Kawhai. Like you you got Kawhai. I mean, Kawhai won a championship, but Kawhai is from LA. And that meant more to Kawawaii than running it back with the Toronto Raptors in 2019. So, um that’s that’s where things get messy and that’s why I don’t really focus on that as much as kind of what’s in front of the team. But that’s kind of what the plan is. The plan is they keep saying we have into a dome. We’re in this market, you know, Southern California. Everyone wants to be here. Like, do you want to play in a state-of-the-art arena in a place that everyone’s going to be at and have all these opportunities and with an organization that has a great deal of stability. That’s what they’re selling. So, let’s look at what’s in front of him then. Uh, now we could get into the actual off season. You already touched on Harden a little bit. Uh, yes. I mean, both of us both, you know, a little down about their over overall, you know, prospects to really significantly improve the team, but now I think we could get a little more positive because I mean, this year they could definitely do a couple things to get a little deeper. Um, I suppose we could start on Harden just because you already you already started touching on that. Um, so with him, he’s got that player option. I’m just looking at their salary cap sheet right now. Uh you whoever’s watching you guys can see this on capshets.com. You can see they’re they’re right now they’re about 12 million below the tax. Uh but I think the more applicable thing is their apron level. They’re about 20 million below the first apron cuz the Clippers they’re comfortable paying the tax uh you know if the roster is deep enough uh good enough they’ll pay some of it. But uh now with the new restrictions I think they mostly just care about uh having the flexibility needed to do what they need to accomplish. Uh, so so overspending won’t help with that, but they already have like, let’s see, they have 13 players under contract. They’re going to have a first round pick, 30th overall selection, but they already have most of the rotation back. Um, so I mean, I guess before we get to Harden, because his situation, I mean, I I’ll just say pretty quickly, I don’t So you think he might he might get a little bit more? It’s possible. Uh what I’m curious about is mostly the years where he’s already in his uh mid to late 30s. So he can’t go too long on the contract. Um but maybe there’s something they could do where okay, maybe they gave him a little bit of a raise. They still could use like the midlevel. They could still do a trade to increase the payroll, bring in another guy. What I’m curious is maybe uh and I’m and I’m going to be saying this about Kyrie Irving, too. Uh what if there’s like a long-term deal, something like in the three to four year range where you kind of do what Chris Paul did with the Suns? Maybe there’s some non-G guarantees on the back end. So for Harden, okay, you get a little more long-term security, uh but the Clippers get a little more optionality on the back end. So maybe when you get to 2027, uh if you do have something lined up, you can get somebody uh to be the next face of the franchise or what have you, then you can either trade harden or you could cut him. So uh I would say yeah, for the most part though, if you know, maybe he gets a little bit of a raise, but I don’t really see his salary situation as far as next year being like significantly different. Probably like more or less the same. Just like a little more maybe. Yeah, I mean I think there are people who they they they saw hard and resigned and wondered what kind of production you can expect from him. Um he sacrificed a lot uh when he got to the Clippers. Um because you know his focus was on getting two stars going, you know. Um, it’s different in Philly where it was Joel. Obviously, the focus was on Joel, but it was on James after that and and Tyrese was emerging. He wasn’t quite there. He gets to the Clippers and it’s Kawhai is your Joel and Paul is obviously a priority to get going. Uh, that’s that’s how they had to play. That’s how James had to play and and and it didn’t work with Russ starting because Russ was the point guard and they’re trying to make James a shooting guard again and it’s like no, you can’t do that at this stage of his career. Like James has to have the ball in his hands and that doesn’t fit Russ’s um game very well with how that team played. Um either way you look at it, James was at best the third option on that team even though he was the primary playmaker. Uh this year James had to be the main guy uh from the jump uh until Kawhai got back. Like you don’t have that relief ball handling. You don’t have that relief on the perimeter as much. You had to reestablish that with a Norman Pal. And you had to get this Zubas going in a way that no one had ever gotten Zoo going before. James did such a good job with that. So I expect him to get a little bit more when he opts out. Um, but to your point, not to the I don’t even I I I think even in James, it’s not in James best interest to break the bank or anything like that. We’re not we’re not talking about that. Like James has sacrificed before. Um, I think that there’s when when all these things, these negotiations, we saw it was a relationship breakdown in Philadelphia. Um, there I don’t expect there to be any kind of relationship breakdown in LA. um the owner, the front office, the coach, the star are pretty much all on the same page. Uh Kawhai might be disappointed now, but I think Kawhai understands like it’s you and James in the short term. And so, and Kawhai’s already locked up for two years, and I just expect that those guys are going to be um those guys are going to be tied together. Um it it should be two years. Uh that that’s what I would expect if you’re asking me what do I expect out of the next Harden deal. Um the money is whatever uh pay whatever is fair and whatever makes sense, but the length is going to be key. And I think the key is uh I think it probably makes more sense for the Clippers to have James tied to Kawawaii in a way that if it was last year they wanted Paul George to be tied with Kawawaii. Um they were they offered Paul three. He he took the Philadelphia deal. Um now you get James. He signed a oneplus one. He overperformed it. He can opt out. Pay him a little more. Treat him but also keep him in line with what your plan is. Yeah, I would say to like the first two years being guaranteed that seems to be pretty logical what’s going to happen. Just align him with Kawhai. As far as like what a little bit more might be. I would guess Harden might just point to what Kyrie got with the Mavericks on his last deal where he’s making around like low 40s. Uh, you know, just given this they’re in a similar stage of their career. I I could see that being like maybe like a pretty reasonable high-end what Harden might ask for. But yeah, in the end, even if he gets that, they could still they still have all the same flexibility that they have to build out the roster. So, I mean, now we could just get into like a little more of the fun stuff. So last year the Clippers they exhausted all their flexibility uh you know the once they let George go and they were decided uh you know we’re going to just make the team as deep as possible they use the um full mid level uh to bring in Jones they used the bianual to bring in Nicholas Batum uh and also since they’re so all that hard caps them to the first apron but once they did that now they could also do sign and trades they could sign and trade for free agent that’s how they got Chris Dunn so you just have like So, they have just a lot more things they could do to uh improve the roster. Uh in general, they could also just, you know, increase the payroll in the trade. You could take back more than you’re sending out. So, so that’s going to be the priority. So, even if they have like 15 to 20 million to spend, I would say they’re probably just going to like just exhaust everything they can, just uh bring in the best guy possible, uh spend every last dollar they can up into that uh first apron hard cap. uh if the team’s not good enough or something. Okay, they could get below the tax later. They did that this year. Um but so yeah, I would say yeah, they don’t have the the bannual this year because they used it last year, but the mid-level that’s the bigger thing. Um, as you look at the rotation, which is like again mostly full for the most part, uh, any any targets you could see them p potentially try to pursue with that, even if it’s someone that you think might have to they might have to go a little higher, uh, anyone in mind you think that’ be a pretty good fit for what the Clippers are going for? I would rather I’ I’d rather point out player arch types. Um because I think player arch types, you can fit a whole bunch of players into that and you can identify what the specific targets are from there. Um and there’s two the the Clippers need ball handling help and they need uh front court help. Um I think they have a starting lineup especially if Harden opts in. Um, you can reasonably say, okay, you got James, Kawawaii, Zoo, that’s your top three. Norm is your fourth guy in that. And Norm’s going to get interesting. I’m sure you’re going to want to talk about that more later. Um, that fifth starter being Chris Dunn or Derrick Jones Jr., like those guys pretty much fulfilled the same role as far as um being very important to the defensive infrastructure that the Clippers established for the first time this past season. And then you’re expecting Nico Batoon to opt in, but you need a better backup big than Nico. Like Nico is going to be 30, I believe, 37 years old in December. Uh he’s in the twilight of his career. He’s year to year at this point. Uh he’s mold retirement before. Um but he loves playing for Tanloo and he wants to be back. So um whether again whether he opts out or opts in, like I expect Nico to be back in some capacity. Um, Ben Simmons is the backup was the backup center to end the season. He’s a free agent. He eventually faded out of the rotation completely for the Clippers. I don’t expect him to be back. Um, if he comes back, it would be on a very low number. I just feel like the Clippers need for one a player who can play in every game. Ben’s wasn’t able to play in backtobacks. Um, and then Ben, his shooting is not that’s that’s been the talking point since he was an all-star, right? The real decline for Ben is that he doesn’t even look at the basket. He can’t score at all. Um, there were he he scored, I think, 10 points in his Clippers debut and then he never scored double digits again, I don’t believe, for the Clippers. Like that’s, you know, I think he went the last month of the year not even attempting a free throw. So, you need someone who’s more of a threat on both ends of the floor. Um, and so your front court help should be a a player who can be a backup center um in case Zoo misses time or gets in foul trouble or some bad matchup, but also a player who might be versatile enough to slide in and and play the four next to Zoo. And you know, again, players off the top of my head that fit that kind of arch type is guys like uh Nas Reed or Bobby Portoris Jr. Um like those are those are players that could really help the Clippers if they were open to going to LA. I don’t know how they would get secure those guys, but that’s the kind of player arch type that the Clippers haven’t really had in several years. And then when you talk about point guards, like Kevin Porter Jr. started the year on the team. Um Harden missed a few games and and Porter started a couple in his place, but again, James was incredibly durable. And when they traded Kevin Porter Jr., the understanding was Bogey Bogdan Bogdanvich was going to be that primary ballin hand player in the second unit. And Bogey eventually played really well. He didn’t have a great playoffs, but Bogey is better at the two than to say he can slide in and be your point guard if James has to miss a week or something. Chris Dunn, they don’t really look at him as a point guard. Like Chris Dunn, you almost got to look at Chris Dunn like a like like I said with how you look at Derek Jones Jr., a point of attack guy, a defender of multiple positions, but offensively as a guy who at best can kind of help just handled the ball a little bit, but not a guy who penetrates and makes plays at a high level or at any level really. You know, Chris Dunn rarely ran pick and rolls. You know, Chris Dunn was just I’ll get the ball over half court and get it to James and let James operate from there. I think you need a guy who can do that. Um, someone who’s a little bit more secure with their handle and gives you a little bit more downhill pressure than a bogey bog does. But the key with any Clippers guard that they acquire is they are big on positional size. They love your big the the big point guard, the the the point guard who I mean they can do the point guard stuff offensively, but defensively they can again not be hunted, guard multiple positions. Um who that player is, I’m very fascinated to see. Um but that’s those are really that’s really it. like um I mean you’re pretty much set if you bring in if you bring back James and Nico and you already got these guys. Um that’s 10 guys you’re talking about Yosi like you you’re talking hard and done pal Leonard Zubots Jones Bogdanovic coming back. Batum you’re hoping to opt in. If you add a backup center who has some positional versatility offensively and a backup point guard who has some positional versatility defensively, that’s 10 guys, not counting guys that you hope to step up next year. Uh, thirdyear guys and Kobe Brown who will definitely be on the team and Jordan Miller who will probably be on the team. I say probably best because he’s a guy non-G guaranteed, but I get I I I expect the Clippers to want him as a part of their program next year. Then you got Cam Christie. So that’s the 13th guy. So you got a lot of guys already. You only really need two veterans that can affect your team next year. Yeah. You So like I said at the top, they’re already got most of their rotation set. They’re at eight of 10 guys. So whatever they’re most likely like Okay. like say for some trade where they can upgrade on one of their starters. You know, I’m not really it’s hard to envision how what that might be, but most likely they’re just going to fill in the gaps of what they need on the bench, which I think you laid them out perfectly. They have a lot of different options at the wing and I would definitely consider one of those young guys that you mentioned. Most likely somebody could step up. Um they could also bring back air coffee. I don’t know, you know, how they feel about him, but they they’ve got I I I would be I’d be surprised if Amir’s back. I I I I just would be surprised. Like, he didn’t play a single second in the playoffs, seven game series. There were blowouts. There were opportunities to change things up. Amir was safely in the rotation for 90% of the season. Amir didn’t play a single minute. Um, okay. And that Yosi is usually a telltale sign that it’s like, “Hey, look, you’re about to be a free agent. We want you to get your money. We aren’t going to put you in position to get hurt unnecessarily and affect things, but we also don’t see you as someone who can help us in any capacity right now. Thank you. Good luck. We’ll see you down the line.” Um, so I’d be surprised if Amir’s back, but either way, they’ve got a lot of other options on the wing, so I think they’re fine there, which which makes off season a little easier because I think that’s where most teams would like to uh try to get someone on the free agent market. I think uh getting a guard won’t be that difficult. I’ve been saying this for a while when discussing a lot of teams that need a guard that there’s a lot of good ones available out there. Um they might not even need to dip into their full mid-level to get one. Uh maybe there’s some that even get a lot less than uh people might be surprised to uh get there’s a lot of guys like you know there’s um like you know I I think it’s a mixed bag with a lot of these players but there’s like the Angel Russell, Ty Jones, Chris Paul just reading off a list. Uh one player that the Clippers almost acquired a couple years ago Malcolm Brogden he’s going to be available uh a little bigger. Uh, you know, you talk about they want like a big like a, you know, bigger guard. He’s a little bigger than some of the other point guards out there. So, I don’t think it’ll be I would consider Brogden I would consider Brogden a primary target for the Clippers. like like you said, they they almost traded uh the first round pick that they wound up using on Kobe Brown, Marcus Morris, and Air Coffee to to to get I think if Brogden would have been a buyout guy, then um I think the Clippers would have considered him along with Ben Simmons. Now, Ben Simmons, it was like that was a more pressing need because you needed a big even though you kept calling Ben a point guard. Um, and Malcolm just had this relationship now with Michael Winger, who, you know, he runs the Wizards now, but before that, he was in the Clippers run office. So, um, there will at the very least there will be some consideration there. And he fits everything that the Clippers look for as far as a point guard who can shoot, who has positional size. Um, I would that’s like a bullet, you know, on on the on the board there. Yeah. And with Brogden missed a lot of time last year. I don’t I don’t really think he played the last like month or two. I don’t think he played after All-Star break at all. Yeah. So, I don’t know what the market’s going to be on like for him. And and the when you look at the rest of the league, most teams are already set at guard. So I kind of you know it’s hard to see how many teams are really going to be a after a lot of these guards we like it wouldn’t surprise me a lot last offseason a lot of pretty good role players got a lot less than they probably deserved. A big part part of that was the cap barely went up. It’s going to go up the full 10% so that might uh help with that but also there’s only one cap space team right now which is the Nets unlike last year there was seven. So it’s still kind of one of those seven. You would say one of those seven was Philadelphia, right? Yeah. Like only Sixers, Magic, and one other team actually tried to go after players that can help while a lot of the other ones like Utah, Charlotte, they just like, you know, they they’re just trying to get some bad salaries with draft picks. So one cap space team, it’s I don’t know. I can’t imagine that’s too great uh for some of the free agents this summer and just knowing how most guards most teams have guard taken care of. I wonder I’m not saying Brogden could get like go for the minimum or something like that, but if the Clippers really want a guy like Brogden, uh I I think it might be a lot easier to get him than it might seem. In which case, uh maybe you don’t use any of your mid-level. Try to save that for a big man. You could sign and trade. Uh maybe there’s something you could do with the Clippers. Just send back uh one of your lower salaried guys for the salary matching. Uh and and that’s and that’s kind of it. Just, you know, send out a second round pick or something. But I I think if they should be able to get uh one of their guard targets uh without too much trouble. I would say getting a big, especially the type you described, could be a little more challenging. Um, it’s interesting how every whenever I have these discussions and we get into free agents just seems like everybody wants what the Wolves have and I think they’re going to have a very maybe the most interesting offseason. Everybody wants Nas Reed. Everybody wants Nikuel Alexander Walker. What’s going to happen with Julius Randall now? He’s playing really well. How are they going to fit uh pay all these guys? So getting a guy like Nas Reed would, you know, you can’t it’s going to be it’s going to require some kind of creative sign and trade. Would the Clippers be willing to trade a future first and then also like significantly outbid the rest of the market to get a guy like him? I don’t know. But as far as what you described a backup big who could uh play the four at times, I think he’s going to be have he’s going to be very coveted by most of the league. Uh, now if a guy and he’s like the only guy like him that’s really on the on the market, I don’t expect Miles Turner to leave the Pacers. I would be surprised. I doubt he’ll I doubt he’ll really be a realistic target for the Clippers. So when you go down a little bit, I I wouldn’t I wouldn’t consider Miles Turner a target at all. Like Miles Turner is a starting center. And you know what? Miles Turner plays has played his entire career on a team that is up 200 in the semi-finals against the one seed and went to the conference finals the year before. Like Miles Turner is not leaving Indiana to be anyone’s backup or to play out of position for somebody, right? That’s not happening. The Clippers think that Zoo is an allstar at that position. like they’re not going to use significant resources to get a overlapping player. Yeah, I just bring up Miles because he and Nas Reed are like I put him in a similar tier of as far as like stretch big free agent uh which that are going to be well well above the mid level. So then when you look at the mid level, you can look at guys like Brook Lopez. Uh I don’t you know Santi Alama will probably get that but I’m guessing he’ll stick with the Grizzlies. Kind of an interesting could be an interesting fit but maybe not like big enough for what the Clippers want. They can but it’s mostly like a veteran guy. Maybe like an Al Horford. You can probably get a guy like him. But a lot of bigs just available on the trade market. You can point to uh just a lot of different teams that has some available but a lot of them didn’t move. A lot of them just a for some reason a lot of like just role playing big men just uh they just didn’t get they they just stayed put like the Blazers had a couple guys u for some reason like a lot of uh that that market just uh stalled. So I think the Clippers will it’ll be a little tougher to get a big man. I think Bobby Portoris he’s got that player option. I would guess he opts in, but even if he does, I you know, if the especially if the Bucks do end up having to trade Giannis and change things up, I’m sure Bobby Poris would then be available. I don’t think that would be difficult at all for the Clippers to make uh get done. Um, you know, they can even just absorb him with their midlevel. So, I think there’s a lot of there are ways for for them to get a lot of these different guys. I think it’ll just kind of kind of fall down to well, how much do they want to give up? Especially considering they already are so low on picks. Do they do they really if Nasreed is even attainable? Do they want is that worth one of their last few bullets? Or maybe they just want to go for something a little more of a short-term option uh to uh to just kind of get through the next few years. So, uh lot of options. I’m sure they’ll get them done. I’m sure whoever they bring in will probably be the right fits. The Clippers have like I’ll give them credit. They’ve just done a fantastic job at identifying exactly who they need and who fits well with this group. Uh and there just so many options. They’ll just uh so just a matter of who they want and how much they’re willing to give up, how much they’re willing to sacrifice for for that big. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, in the chat says, “John Collins, I don’t.” Well, he’ll probably opt in. $26 million player option. Um, the Clippers could probably been a uh a a Clipper fan target for four seasons. Um, so the that’s that’s the thing. It’s like John Collins, if he opts in, like you’d have to trade for him. Yep. if he opts out, like I’m pretty sure John Collins is not opting out to take anything less than the 26.5 million that uh he would be owed. Um like that dude’s that that dude’s opting in. Um and John’s an interesting one just because he physically like the idea of John Collins is great. like a guy who can play the four and the five. A guy who’s shown that he can shoot and and jump. Uh he’s only turning 28 in September. That’s the that’s the idea of John Collins is great. The execution of John Collins within what you do as a team. That’s where things get trickier because we know that John Collins as a center is not an inspiring defender. John Col really John’s not inspiring defensively at either spot. You know, the best you can say is have John Collins survive as a four and you can have the rebounding, but the Clippers don’t need, this is ironic to say after the series we saw, the Clippers don’t need rebounding. They don’t need a statistical rebounder, if you will. They they what what they need is someone who can guard that spot. And can John Collins guard, you know, when you’re not going up against Aaron Gordon’s teams? Like the Clippers had Aaron Gordon problem? They did not have a power forward problem in 2024 25. They were a great defensive rebounding team and they were a great defensive team in general, top five. They they did a great job defending um positionally over the course of the regular season. John would be great in a matchup with the Denver Nuggets. The question is, does is Jon Collins going to fit what you do over the course of the season in general? And that’s where things get tricky with John and his shooting, while it bounced back in a big way this past year. The question with Jon is, did John does John fit an offense where there’s a center on the floor and that limits his rim runs? It limits his ability to dominate inside. Again, if you can get John Collins as a backup big, then I think that’s the sweet spot. But how much is that going to cost you? It obviously is not going to come in the form of some $15 million contract for a year. You’re going to have to trade a real piece for him. And then you got to say, does he fit us when we’re not playing against the biggest teams? I think the Clippers could definitely get him without giving up too significant much of a pick. like I I would not I don’t think it makes sense to give out any of their future ones, but if they can turn their 30th overall and maybe uh one of their other uh young guys on rookie contracts into as the main thing to get him. Uh then you also got to put in the salary. So probably Bdonovic and another guy. Uh I it’s definitely uh feasible. I don’t think the market’s going to be that robust for Collins. Um, but I think you kind of you you know, you kind of summed up what the rule would be. If you’re trading for him, you’re mainly trading for him as a backup big, which is that’s a that’s one hell of a backup big man. And then, okay, occasionally he could play up a little bit depending on the matchup. Maybe he could close with you. Uh, but so so in that case, just as long as it’s it’s a pretty low price, I could see it. Uh, but I want to get to the last thing. Uh, we’re going getting a little longer than I hope. Norm Powell. So, he uh just had this amazing season. He’s always been a great shooter, but really shot it, especially at a high volume, extremely well. Uh he’ll be able to extend this year. He can do up to four years, 129 mil. Uh so, I’m kind of on the fence on like how the Clippers should move forward with Norm Powell. Obviously, they will definitely negotiate. They’ll talk something. Uh, but I mean, what is your feel? Cuz I’m kind of I’m kind of 50/50 on if they should give him some kind of extension that makes sense, not the full amount or uh, you know, he just finished his 10th year, uh, turning 32. Would it make sense to uh, you know, get while you what you can from him? You know, it’s not not guaranteed he’ll like repeat exactly what he just did again. Oh, we just saw how the role changes affect him in a significant way. I mean, yes, right through All-Star weekend and I was in Utah, a game that was not on the schedule in August when the schedule came out. They rearranged some things because of the January wildfires. So, they had to play a second night of a backtoback in Utah right before Allstar break that wasn’t planned. And that was Norm’s best moment. They were down 20 in that game in Utah and they didn’t have Kawawaii and Ben was making his debut and Norm had like more than 40 points in 40 plus minutes and then went to Allstar to shoot threes. Okay. So like that was the high point. It was all downhill from there because he emerged from all-star break with knee soreness and when he came back against the Lakers, he played one quarter and strained his hamstring. That was another two weeks. So, he essentially missed four weeks after All-Star break and by the time he got back, Kawhi Leonard was cooking and so were the Clippers. And Norm just had to get in where he fit in. And uh that I mean the Clippers were a successful team, but Norm was not playing his best basketball at that point. Uh Norm had a very uneven playoff series. I think um the key in game seven was I kept saying in the 48 hours leading up to that game, they need Norman Pal to be the player that pops in this game for them to win it. And Norm had a regrettable game seven. He he he he fouled. He couldn’t make threes. He turned the ball over. Michael Porter Jr. outplayed him. And so to your point, you brought this up already. He is turning 32. He has been injured to the point where he’s missed at least 20 games, three of the last four years. And he’s a small guard that needs to be hidden defensively. He’s not an asset defensively. He obviously can participate as part of a top five defense. And that is a credit to Norm, right? like Norm was good enough defensively where it’s like Norm’s not going to break your defense, but you’re not asking Norm to be a part of like how your defense is performing at a high level. Uh, and so ironically, Norm is like in the Paul George scenario, like with a year left on his deal. Yeah, you’re going to talk to his to him and his representatives, but you’re also going to be like, Norm, this is what we’re doing, and this is what we can offer you now, and you can take it now, or you can try and mess around with how weird things get in free agency. Now, when Norm was last a free agent, the Raptors were like, “You got a year left on your deal. We’re going to trade you mid-season to Portland for Gary Trent Jr.” And then Portland gave him the deal he’s on now. 5 years, what was it? 90 million, whatever it was that leaves him where he’s going to make 20 million in the last year, this deal in this upcoming season. Different CBA, different situation. Portland, they got to mid-season and we’re like, “We need to blow it up. It’s not working. We’re going to trade you. We’re going to trade CJ McCollum. We’re going to trade Robert Coington. Uh, actually, Roko was part of the deal that sent Norm to LA in the first place. And it’s worked out great for Norm. Norm’s played some of his best basketball with the Clippers. It’s worked out great for the Clippers, obviously. I mean, Norm’s the only player in that deal outside of Keon Johnson, who is still playing in the NBA. Okay. But what do you do if you’re trying to really upgrade at the four? You might need a trade Norm to do that. Not bogey, a guy who’s making under 20. You might need a trade Norm. When his value is at his highest, when he isn’t hurt or anything like that, if I’m the Clippers, I you know, I look at this like I looked at Terrence, man. You know, it’s like, hey, look, I was about to say if we can get you on a if we can get you on a deal that, you know, it’s like, hey, whether we trade you or not, you’re paid. Norm might might want to take that. But if Norm’s like looking at his guy Fred Van Bleet, I mean, Norm is understand the grind. But if if Norm is like, I gotta I gotta tap into my bet on yourself, do you want to bet on yourself? Do you want to say, hey, look, I know James might decline. I know Kawawaii went into training camp and had a, you know, something happen where he needed to be parked for months before he could debut for the season. You dudes might need me to be that guy again going into next season. You don’t know what how these guys are going to feel going into next fall. And the Clippers should know that, too. The Clippers should not be in a rush to trade Norm and Pal just to say, “Oh, we got to trade Norm.” You know, you don’t do that because you’re relying on two dudes who the cliff is right there. And so, the best move might be negotiate in good faith, be transparent, be like, “Look, you’ve seen Paul George and what happened. You saw what happened with Terence Man. You know what organization we are. we trying to take care of you. We need you, but we also are going to do what’s best for us. And maybe Norm comes in with a chip on his shoulder, but also is like, I might be an all-star. They might keep me. Uh, you never know. And the Clippers get to a point in February where they understand where they are in the standings. They understand where they are with who they’re playing well against and who they’re not playing well against. they understand how fit James Harden and Kawhi Leonard are. And maybe that’s where you make your decision on how much you need to move Norman Pal to upgrade your roster. Or if you just are completely terrible in February and you’re like, Norman Pal is about to be a free agent. We’re sellers. Let’s see if we can get a pick for him. You summed it up perfectly and brought up a lot of points I was about to make. I I just I think clearly Norman Powell first of all that’s probably the biggest I would say more than Harden the biggest priority like what what are you going to do with him this summer? Um so you mentioned Terrence Man. So they signed him to an extension last year where they were able to trade him immediately. um they didn’t trade him immediately but since they signed it pretty late you know usually a big extension you can’t get traded for 6 months but it was like I think a September October extension so it would have taken it past that restriction would have gone past the trade deadline um so the the point is I think the Clippers will probably hold like a pretty hard line on whatever number they want with they have in mind with Powell the years two you’re we talked about how whatever they do is hard and they’re going to align it with with Kawawaii I would imagine with Norm, he’s he’s on that same timeline. Um, so what they could I’m sure they’ll be negotiating. They could try to get him on something which will still be very lucrative where they could keep his trade eligibility immediately, especially if negotiations do drag out past August. Um, but I’m kind of I I do think though, yeah, they’re going to listen to offers. And what I’m curious is if what if there’s a team that is so in love with Norm that really uh wants to bring in his element of shooting they’re really willing to give up like some really like real stuff to get him. I think you know the Clippers got to think real really seriously and not necessarily has to be like a player that could help like an upgrade at the four. What if they can get like some very good draft picks and because then they could restock that you know they could restock that a little bit for their next big move. So I it’ll probably be end up it’ll probably it’ll probably end up being like a little of both. I would guess that they try to get him on that extension that is tradable makes it maybe even raises his trade value. Uh but at the same time I you know I’m not looking too far out ahead as far as like like I don’t I don’t know if I can envision Powell being a Clipper for like you know even like two three years from now. I do I do wonder if maybe like that it is the right time to if there is a team that really wants and will really willing to give up real stuff for him. I think you seriously got to consider it. Yeah. And and there’s only two player two types of players. Um cuz again we we discussed like just in free agency in general, unrestricted free agency, the two types of players that the Clippers need, right? that that point guard with defensive versatility, that um that backup big with um some offensive versatility. If you’re trading Norm, you are trading for either a power forward who can start and have real offensive viability cuz you’re still going to be giving up at at the very least a movement shooter, a a a guy who can who can put the ball in the basket efficiently. uh you you need the you need either that power forward who has that offensive viability or you’re looking for a Tyrese Maxi uh approximation. I’m not saying Tyrese Maxi obviously, but we know what role Tyrese Maxi play for James Harden. Why didn’t James Harden like look as worn down as whatot? because he played with Tyrese before Tyrese obviously got to be an allstar and we saw what Tyrese could do playing next to James Harden as a secondary playmaker as a guy who can you know offer you some change of pace while playing with James if that is the kind of player that some team is looking to get off of you know and give the Clippers some just again just some help there you know anytime James already missed games in Philadelphia, Tyrese just slid over and they started a wing next to him and they just kept on rolling. Right. So, you’re only trading Norm if it benefits if you’re the Clippers, you’re if if it benefits you in the form of getting a player who is a starter level player. Um, other than that, the Clippers were pretty damn good with Norm James, Kawawaii, and Zoo and insert defender here. um they shouldn’t be in a rush, but they need to they do Yosi have a history of trading guys to let those guys be like, “Okay, it sucks that I’m traded, but my role is like this and my money’s like this. Like, I can’t be too mad at the Clippers. The Clippers have a history of doing that, and we’ll see how they proceed between now and uh the February 2026 deadline.” Yeah. Know, I I think that might make more sense. I guess for now they’ll just sign their guys, run it back for the most part, try to get Norm on something that makes sense and then yeah, typically the trade deadline they’ve been that’s when they’ve been making some of their moves. So yeah, if something So maybe that might be when something changes there. So but yeah, for the most part yeah, I think for the most part we just I think for the most part we expect they’ll stay the course, use a mid level, try to get another uh you know, try to address those needs and and go from there. But law that’s about everything I’ve got. I think we covered the Clippers off season pretty pretty thoroughly. You know, a lot of direction talk, but not in but not too much uh as far as like what’s going to happen. I don’t think I think we both agree not too much action this off season. Um but yeah, like uh so you know, thanks for doing this. I appreciate it. Uh do you have anything coming up we should be on the lookout for? Yeah, man. Well, first of all, you know, shout out to you for having me and shout out to the Athletic for letting me letting me rot. You know, uh it’s a it’s a different workflow with the offseason, but we still keep going. Uh these games are big. I think everybody in the NBA, whether your team is in it or not, is looking at these games because these games define the league. You know, whoever winds up winning this year’s championship, teams are going to do two things. They’re going to try and copy their success, and they’re going to try and build rosters to beat those teams. Um, we’ve seen it pretty much all this entire decade of the 2020s. Like teams are not repeating. Um, but teams are trying, they’re inspired by champions. So, um, I’ll be I’ll be on that. Uh, we got the lottery coming up. I’m going to learn a lot about these prospects over over the the next several weeks. So, um, that’s that’s something that I’m I’m looking at. I’m looking at these developmental cores. Uh, I hope to look at every team’s developmental core at some point this month. And um I’m I’m that’s pretty much it. I’m just trying to learn about basketball, man. Yeah, I’m always on the lookout for what you got coming along, especially on the Clippers. I saw you had a really good piece on James Harden a couple days ago. I really enjoyed that. So, everyone follow LA on Twitter and Blue Sky Murray DNU. And you all can follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky as well at YosiGoslin. Same thing on YouTube, Spotify, Apple. Please subscribe to Third Aprint. some point I will have an even deeper analysis on the Clippers off season and some of the salary uh you know contract stuff they’ll have coming up maybe like even deeper on Norm and Harden in particular and yeah in case you missed it earlier I’m going to be instructing at SBC if you check the description there’s a sign up code you can do in case you’re interested in participating in that program I might I’ll definitely be back at some point in the next few days don’t know exactly when but I’ll keep you guys updated for another team preview. Thanks for showing up, everybody.

Law Murray joins me to discuss the Los Angeles Clippers’ upcoming offseason. We debate whether remaining competitive without a path to true contention is worth an uncertain future, how they could improve the roster further, and contract decisions for James Harden and Norman Powell.

PROMO: I’ll be a Salary Cap instructor at Sports Business Classroom (SBC) this summer. It’s a weeklong educational and networking program that has helped many young people break into working in the industry over the past decade.

There are still spots available. It’ll be from July 13-19 this year. If you sign up with the code THIRDAPRON, you will receive a lifetime subscription to my Third Apron newsletter.

SBC registration: https://www.sportsbusinessclassroom.com/business-of-basketball-registration/#register

You can follow Law on:
Twitter: https://x.com/LawMurrayTheNU
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/lawmurraythenu.bsky.social
And see all his work on the NBA and Clippers at The Athletic.

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