2025-26 LA Clippers = the OLDEST team in NBA History 🤯

2025-26 LA Clippers = the OLDEST team in NBA History 🤯

[Music] Welcome, welcome, welcome. I’m Tom Habashro. Welcome to the big number. That’s my man Dan Divine over there. Dan, what’s going on, man? I’m feeling good. I’m dancing. I don’t know if anybody can see this on YouTube. I hope you can because I’m dancing as hard as I possibly can right now. It is July 23rd. It’s afternoon Eastern time. If any major things have happened, and you know, late July, middle of the day, this is when it goes down, Tom. Um, we’re gonna have to react. You feeling young, Dan? Dude, I’m feeling older than I’ve ever felt, which is literally true, but that’s all right. I was talking to a dad at camp drop off today who was like who first this guy is like in carved out of marble and gorgeous and European. So, I’m like, “This sucks right away. This sucks. This is hard.” And he’s like, “Yeah, no, I like get my workout done like 6:15 every morning so I can do business calls with my guys in London and really get a jump on the day.” And I was like, “I’ve never felt less young, cool, and attractive.” But then hearing you talk about being at the gym at 6:15 doing business with London as I’m like rolling over to make peanut butter and jellies. It’s totally Anyway, Tom Habstro, we’re we’re in offseason mode, but we’re not all the way in offseason mode because there’s still some stuff to talk about. I’m ready to put up some numbers with you. What is our big number this week, Tom? Well, Dan, the reason why I’m asking if you’re feeling young, you’re feeling fresh today, is because this week’s big number is 33.2. That’s the average age. 33 years old of the Los Angeles Clippers roster if the players log as many minutes as they did last season. Okay, so that’s really old. Okay, that is literally the oldest team in NBA history. Wow. If this happens as it did last year, right? Like so like I looked this up. The oldest team on record according to basketball reference age tracking is the 20201 Utah Jazz with John Stockton, Brian Russell, Carl Malone. Makes sense. That team had an average age of 32. This Clippers team is at 33.2, Dan. So like way beyond what we’ve seen from any of the oldest teams, all the gray beards, all the old heads of your this Clippers team is older than any of those. So like here’s some other teams that if you want to know who are the oldest teams ever, uh that 2001 Utah Jazz team that got ousted in the first round, then you got the 98 Houston Rockets, 32.0, zero. So like barely 32 years old average age and exited in the first round that year. The Chicago Bulls 98 Bulls won the won the title 31.7 and then the 2000 Utah Jazz. Basically we’re talking like the Hakee, the the Jordan Bulls, the the Stockton and Malone Jazz. Like these guys were the most ancient NBA teams ever and they don’t even hold a candle. They look like children compared to this Clippers team. Now that they’ve added a 40-year-old Chris Paul, a 37year-old Brook Lopez, and a 32year-old Bradley Beal. Um, look, man, Dan, maybe you and that guy at drop off. Are you feeling like you guys could maybe try out for the team? Cuz me, I I feel like at 39 years old, like I feel like I can suit up for the Clippers. Are you going to put in your hat on those tryyouts? I mean, I think I got to get with that dude and get some workouts in to get ready for it. They like I’m like my hamstring is already pulled talking about it. But it’s also great. It’s like it’s that old tweet of like the is the oldest player in the league. What a miracle of modern science and he’s 10 years younger than you. I’m 10 years older than the average age of the Clippers now. So it’s like yeah this is the most ancient thing ever conceived of and it’s 10 years younger than me. I feel like I just drank out of the wrong grail. Um what uh yes the the Clippers at this point I don’t think they need me because they got a pretty full roster now that they’ve added uh Brook Lopez and John Collins and Bradley Beal and then Chris Paul as sort of like the finishing although I get I think they still do have one roster spot available. So I don’t know you know I don’t know if there’s you know if somebody from it’s yours if you want it D. I mean maybe there’s somebody that’s still kicking from the ABA who’s still available. I don’t know. We can ratchet this thing up. See where we can go. But I think the the interesting thing to me is in a league and we’ve talked about this, we’ll probably talk about it some more moving forward. Like it feels like we’re moving younger, right? Like we just had the conversation about the Oklahoma City Thunder. We had the conversations about the Indiana Pacers, about the age of those rosters, the depth of those rosters, the style of play, all those sorts of things. And Lawrence Frank, the president of basketball operations with the Clippers, was like, “Listen, we’re just trying to get the best players. we need to get the best players possible and who are available to us. And at this point, you know, based on who we could get, you know, we didn’t think that Brook Lopez was going to be available. We didn’t think we were going to be able to get John Collins. We didn’t had no idea Bradley Beal was going to uh, you know, reach the open market on a buyout. We had no idea Chris Paul was going to be available in the third week of free agency, the end of July. And so, we’re going to get the best players we can that fit with our style. They’ve put themselves in that position where it’s really interesting. This might be the deepest roster in the league right now, but also, as you say, pretty comfortably the oldest. And those two things don’t necessarily seem like they go together. Yeah. Yeah. Well, like if you’re going to be old, you got to be deep, right? It’s it’s really helpful to have both of those things cuz if the bodies start breaking down, you’re going to want to have your third string point guard right now is Chris Paul. Like you got Bradley Beal, you got James Harden, you got Chris Dunn. like those are three guys that can manage your point guard ball handling uh uh role and then you got oh yeah we got Kawhi Leonard and Chris Paul on the team. So it feels feels like Dan this team is zigging while everyone’s zagging. So they’re like doing this thing where we have the youngest champion in in decades in a half century in the Oklahoma City Thunder. We have the youngest conference finalist. We had a Gen Z conference finalist and Lawrence Frank, Steve Balmer were like, “Yeah, let’s do the opposite, you know, let’s build a team that all of these washed fans like ourselves uh are watching and being like, hey, like I literally went to college with Chris Paul. Like he’s still in the NBA and he’s he’s playing at a high he started 82 games. He started 82 games last year, which is absurd. It’s absurd that Chris Paul at this age with the NBA getting younger and more athletic and playing more up and down. He was out here like, “Yo, man. Uh, I might be in Rockports and Hokas right now, but listen, dude, I’m still playing at a high level.” If you’ve ever felt, Dan, the sudden urge to play pickle ball instead of tennis or like when they have those like mints at the restaurant just in the bowl and you’re like, “Oh, I’m not just going to get one. Do Yeah, I’m going to go get a bunch of these mints.” or Worthers, you’re just like, I I I see the appeal of those caramels. Um, if you’re like, hey, let’s go out to dinner. Let’s make sure we go like hit the five o’clock. Maybe the five o’clock works for you. All of these things, Dan, I feel like if you’re into those things, you’re going to be into these Clippers. Like, if you’re if you’re going and looking at clip-in coupons, you’re going to be into these Clippers. Like, that’s what I think about. Um, I also think about Jared Dubin’s latest piece at last night in basketball, this great substack. Uh, go check that out. Jared wrote like a a huge breakdown on the age trends in the NBA. And that like if you look at more recent times like the most recent modern era like the last like decade or so the the age curve like older teams are winning more in the regular season but the further you go into the postseason it gets younger and younger than what it was in previous generations. So I feel like this Clippers team is going to be really good in the regular season. I’m confident that they are going to be really good in the regular season, but it’s the postseason. The thing that has eluded Chris Paul, my fellow Demon Deacon, that didn’t win in the NCAA tournament, but has been chasing that championship. I just feel like they’re built for like the number one seed or the number two seed in the regular season, but not necessarily winning the title. And maybe, you know, big title, big rings culture is kind of warped our mind on what’s important in the sport. And maybe just having a 55 win season from this group of hasbins over the hill stars. Maybe that’s maybe that’s the Nirvana, right? Maybe that’s it. So I don’t know. I feel like we need to like recalibrate. Most of these guys of course went and saw Nirvana when they were playing in the early 90s and they were on subpop. Um I think the so interesting thing though to to consider them in that context like it’s not like they’re all as you mentioned sort of like hasbins or over the hills like Brook Lopez played 80 games as a starter on a playoff team last season right averaged like 32 minutes a game Chris Paul started all 82 played like 2300 minutes averaged 28 minutes a game like was a productive these were productive players and I think that one of the interesting components of the way this Clippers roster is built is it seems like that’s kind of like the bet they’re making is if they can ride this depth and like ratchet everybody’s uh workload down for 82. Yeah. Then it might increase the likelihood of that in you know greater availability in April, May, and June. And like I I don’t know if you’re going to be able to, you know, beat Father Time that way. if you can run like the sort of end around around Father Time by being like, “Yeah, no, we we have all these older guys, but we’re using them less.” So, basically, they’re younger. Um, it’s, you know, like the a rosterwide uh version of that like dude who’s using old younger people’s blood or whatever trying to like be I’m going to live forever because I’m just, you know, importing other people’s blood. I don’t know if that’s going to work in the NBA context, but like the idea of we’re putting together the best players we can to be able to play as many different styles as we can, big, small, three guard, four, whatever. like there’s a lot of ways they can play. I think it’s interesting. I I I don’t know that it’s going to necessarily like it is difficult to envision a world in which a roster or you know starting five, top six, top seven that is so heavily on the other side of 30 can do can survive the three, four rounds of what the NBA playoffs demands at the pace and pitch and style of what we have seen as you mentioned Jared laying out uh over the last 10 years and then especially what we saw this past year that grind, that war of attrition, it’s difficult to see, but the the the combination of players they’ve gotten here, certainly it’s an incredible like accumulation of talent to give yourself a chance to do it. Yeah. Like, think about this. The youngest player in their rotation is John Collins, who I did not go to college with, right? Did not go to college. Good deacon, though, right? Yeah, that’s right. Uh 27. Uh uh he’s 27. um they did trade him trade uh Norm Powell who’s 32. Uh so they did kind of exchange that and get a little bit younger. But even John Collins being the youngest rotation player, a guy who’s been in the league for like eight seasons, being the youngest guy on your roster or or like in your rotation, which is like 11 deep at this point. Put it this way, he would be the third oldest player on the Oklahoma City Thunder. only Kenri Williams and Alex Caruso were older than John Collins um who is the youngest guy on the Clippers. So, it’s just it’s just such a zigg while everyone’s zagging. It’s such a different roster than where the league seems to be headed, but I I’m talking myself into it as we go into it, Dan. I part part of it too. It’s like it it seems like it’s a bet on the co Terron Lou and the coaching staff and also on your like player performance and health staff too. Like as you mentioned oldest roster in the NBA in terms of the you adjust the the roster for age, the minutes played, all that kind of stuff. But when you look at the injury absences last year, spot tracks how many players missed games and you know how many games they missed, how much time they missed and the Clippers were 18th in total games missed due to injury last season. Like they were not at the top of the NBA. So even with Kawhai missing half the season, they were still, you know, below the middle of the pack in terms of total average games missed. So like you bring in guys who are older, but you’re asking them to do less and maybe not even play every night, right? you know, like with that that conversation of Chris Paul went from 82 games as a starter to he’s going to come off the bench for sure. Like they’ve discussed that as the role definition here and maybe not even play every game. Uh Brook Lopez, same thing. Goes from starting for the Bucks to he’s going to be defined as the backup five. So minutes per game going to be way down and depending on matchups and on availability like might not even see the floor most some nights. Nick Batum, another one of those sort of long in the tooths. If you have now two bonafide sevenfooters that you’re going to be able to play, like the small ball lineups become more of like a spice you put in rather than needing him to play larger minutes and on and on down the line. What happens with Bradley Beal, I think, is going to be kind of fascinating because I think a lot of people just sort of pencled him into the starting spot where Norman Powell went away and then it was like, well, but is that going to be the best roster distribution? What’s their best five? How do you get your best two-way starting lineup out there? Is be a part of that? Is it better to keep to bring him off the bench and do you have to worry as much about that if he’s only making $5 million a year as opposed to 53 all yada yada yada down the line there’s going to be so much mixing and matching and potentially so much uh sort of depression of overall workload that even as you have the elevated age of the roster it you might be able to keep everybody fresher. I it seems like that’s the idea. That’s the goal in the gambit. It’s an interesting one. It’s certainly a way to get as many talented players and versatile players on the roster as possible. And it gives Terron Lou a lot of options. It also means that Terron is going to have a lot of work ahead of him to keep everybody egos to manage in that roster, too. Yeah. To juggle. That’s the name of the game. That’s I mean, if you’re an NBA coach, that’s your number one thing that you bring to the table. Yeah. And and I mean, I think you ask, you know, if you lined up a hundred coaches, a hundred of them would say, “Give me the talent and I’ll figure the rest out.” Uh, and so now Tron’s got that talent and he’s gonna have to figure it out. Yeah. Uh, lots to figure out with the Clippers. Uh, their their their starting five could be James Harden, Bradley Beal, uh, Kawhi Leonard, Dererick Jones Jr., and Zoo. And then coming off the bench, you could have another starting five of Chris Paul, uh, Bogey, Batum, John Collins, and Brook Lopez. Like, that’s a pretty good starting five coming off the bench. And oh, yeah, you got Chris Dun, too. So, um, let’s get more into granularly with the, uh, the the LA Clippers and the AARP LA Clippers. Um, my Rockport Clippers, uh, I I feel like if you’re going to be at this at this point in your life thinking, I might go to Margaritavville and watch the Clippers, that that is something that went through my head is that that’s an option. You know, I hope Margaritavville has NBA league pass because we’re gonna be watching the Clippers there. Um Dan, let’s do four little numbers right after the break. All right, Dan. Uh four little numbers on the LA Clippers that just signed Chris Paul, just added Brook Lopez and brought in Bradley Beal off the scrap heap. Uh they are going to be right now the oldest team uh projected to be the oldest team in NBA history with an average age of 33.2 two according to their playing time. Um Dan, give me your first little number. First little number is one that you mentioned up top there. It’s 11. And that’s how many proven NBA rotation players the Clippers now look to have on their roster. Count them off with me. You got Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Ivita Suzubots, Derek Jones Jr., Chris Dunn, Nicholas Batum, and Bogdan Bagdanovich all coming back. There’s seven. And then you bring in Bradley Beal, John Collins, Brook Lopez, and Chris Paul. We got 11 guys. Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank has said multiple times in these like he’s had a couple of press conferences recently announcing the Bradley Beal signing, announcing the Chris Paul signing. They’re probably going to play a nineman rotation which I’m not a big analytics guy but that’s smaller than 11. So that means a couple of guys are going to be on the outside looking in night after night in night out. And so there’s like the downside risk of that, right, is as you mentioned, a lot of cooks in the kitchen, potentially a lot of egos, a lot of guys who have made a lot of money and done a lot in the NBA. Does somebody get their nose out of joint about that? But the other thing Frank said that I thought was interesting was quote over the course of a year, look, I’d love all our guys to be healthy, all 82, but probably not realistic. We also leaned in hard on James. James played 79 79 games, fifth most minutes in the league. I hope he can do it again, but we wanted to reinforce that just like we don’t want to over rely on Zoo who played 80 games, you know, hope he can do that again. But we wanted to reinforce those positions. Reinforce those positions. Again, we just came off a finals where you had two teams that had a dozen guys average 15 minutes a game. Only one of those guys on both rosters, Sha Alexander, played more than 34 minutes a game. Is it too simple to draw a line from that depth being the the deciding characteristic to what the the Clippers have done or this kind of the way it has worked out for them? Do you think this is like the Clippers responding to in order to get where we need to go, we need to be able to go 10 11D? I think it’s more a product not about the about the thunder. I think it’s more about just injury prevention. I think it’s just get depth. Not because we want to keep our minutes low, but because we know that we can’t have the same number of games played by Chris Paul, Brook Lopez, and and James Harden as we saw last year. I think you see that in Lawrence Frank’s comments is like he can’t say it, but it’s just like we got to protect ourselves and get some insurance on injuries. And that I think is the insurance on injuries is really what this is about is man, you’re looking at Bradley Beal and Kawhi Leonard and and Chris Paul and and they might be last year playing a lot of games in some of those cases, but projecting those guys to be healthy all year is a fool’s errand. I I just don’t see it with this group and how old they are and how many deep playoff runs they’ve had in their careers. Um, it’s not just about the minutes played in the regular season. It’s also those really tough miles on the treads, right? So, I think that this is the right way to go about it in the sense if you’re trying to win right now, I feel like getting these guys and not adding to payrolls long term, I feel like is a way to kind of moneyball this is that everyone’s trying to get faster, younger, and more versatile. What if we just take advantage of a lot of u I wouldn’t say undervalued assets but like man Bradley Beal at $6 million $11 million and Chris Paul at at his number these are guys who were good contributors rotation players last year and they’re getting paid way less than what the market would suggest. And so I think Brook Lopez, another one of these guys that like as well as he played in those highminute usage rate uh uh playing time last year with the Milwaukee Bucks, if you just dial back the slider like a little bit, I could understand why you’re like, we’re going to get a much better Brook Lopez and Bradley Beal and Chris Paul if we don’t have to have them playing 35 minutes a night. That’s it’s an interesting way to think about it. Like this is, you know, finding value where others are not because it allows you to kind of do the best of both worlds. you don’t have to like worry that a young guy won’t be able to pick up what you’re doing because you’re indexing on players with tons of experience who played in a lot of different systems are more likely to be able to pick up something quickly have you know plenty of NBA you know background to draw on and also you’re aligning yourself with that Kawhi Leonard timeline that Kawhi Leon Leon Leon Leon Leon Leon Leon Leon Leon Leonard and James Harden timeline which is really only the next two years Kawhi Leonard guaranteed deal 2526 26 27 Harden now on the new extension it’s uh this season and then they got a player option for 2627. So like that you’re not the the no guaranteed money basically beyond 2027 when you could have your sort of next pivot. So it makes sense in from a roster construction perspective and yeah maybe in terms of just maximizing the value uh on the court this year. Uh our second little number is 11 which again is the same little number as before but it’s a different one. And here’s why. Last season there were 11 power forward center types. So guys who kind of moved between the four and the five uh who attempted at least four three-pointers per 36 minutes of floor time and shot at least 37% on those attempts according to our friends at statad.com. 11 players who fit that bill. Last year’s Clippers employed none of them. And this year’s Clippers employ two now. Brook Lopez 37% from three on five a little more than five attempts per 36 and John Collins who shot 39.9% on four attempts per 36 in Utah which nobody saw. Terranlu is famous for going to small ball, right? He like when in doubt, downshift, spread the floor, five out, he’s gone with PJ Tucker for that. Robert Coington, Marcus Morris, Nick Batum, but with the exception of like late model Sergey Baka, who I had to jog my memory, played for the Clippers for a little bit, and uh a little bit like a teeny amount of Mo Bomba last year, they really haven’t had shooting and size at the front court spots. and now they can play two guys like that with, you know, alongside or behind or instead of Zubots. I’m wondering like what do you think that adding that shooting in the front court does for the Clippers offense? It’s huge and it’s a huge need for them. I mean, you you highlighted um you know of those small ball fives in in Terron Lou’s past. Last season, the Clippers, according to hoopstats.com, at the center position, had 0.9 three-point attempts at the center position per game. That’s 29th in the NBA. Only the Detroit Pistons with Jaylen Duran uh and Beef Stew had a lower rate of three-point attempts at the center position. And keep in mind, the Thunder were seventh in the NBA with five three-point attempts at the center position per game. And the the Indiana Pacers with Miles Turner of course were third in the NBA in that category with 6.9 basically seven three-point attempts for per game from the center position. Thomas Bryant, Miles Turner, etc. Clippers needed this. The Clippers needed Brook Lopez and John Collins uh to be able to space the floor, give them that versatility. So it they it worked in the regular season, but as we saw with the Thunder and their ability to kind of mix and match the lineups depending on what they need out there, I think the Clippers are better positioned to win in the postseason. The question that that comes back to is just the health of Brook Lopez. Even if you have him on the roster, can you depend on him at 37 in the year of the Lord 2025 that this is going to be a team that can depend on Brook Lopez playing at playoff caliber basketball when it comes to the conference semi-finals or even deeper as we go into May. Yeah. And the idea I think the argument for the Clippers is if we don’t need him to do that for 30 minutes a game where, you know, ahead of where we could say we can kind of aggregate together enough shooting in the front court between x amount of minutes of Lopez, x amount of minutes of Collins alongside the rim protection and interior game of Vita Zubat to get us to where we can have that mix and match and still get the benefits of the spacing for James Harden in the pick and roll, for Kawhi Leonard on the drives, for Bradley Beal coming off handoffs or cur, you know, whatever creating more space for our slashers and our downhill drivers while without losing the rim protection, without losing the roll threat, you know, whether it’s Brook Lopez in the short roll or Collins in the lot. Like there’s again lots of ways to generate better offense for a team that I think for the full season they were only 15th in offensive efficiency, but a lot of that is like they didn’t have Kawhi for half the season and they were pretty darn good once they did have him back in the lineup. So yeah, just putting a button on it. They were 23rd um in the NBA in the share of their shots that came from three last season. So clearly ratcheting that three-point attempt rate up was a point of emphasis for the Clippers and they went and got two guys to do that in the front court. Uh our third little number this week is plus 3.5. That was Chris Dunn’s estimated defensive plus minus last season according to Taylor Snar’s metrics at dunksandthrees.com. Defensive estimated plus minus. So just how much you were adding to your team’s benefits on the defensive end of the court per possession. Chris Dunn second in the NBA in defensive estimated plus minus last season behind only Alex Caruso. Dunn was fourth on the Clippers in starts, fifth on the team in total minutes played during the regular season. They allowed almost five fewer points per 100 possessions with him on the floor than off it, which was the second biggest swing in the league. Sorry, second biggest swing on the team behind only Zubat. Ball pressure, steals, deflections, blocks, harassing ball handers over the floor. who was a huge part of why the Clippers were the top three defense that they were last season, which was really what carried them as their offense was kind of hit and miss at times. And now you mentioned, you know, Bradley Beiel comes in and Chris Paul comes in and Bugdon Buggdonovich comes back and you wonder like is less of Chris Dunn, it would be understandable given the construction of the roster at this point. Is it maybe a good thing though in LA? And like are we worried that as you bring in more of these sort of like veteran offensive tilted players, you lose a little bit of the defensive identity that made the Clippers a 5-1 team last season? Yeah. I mean, he was awesome in the regular season. I think if the if the the sliders or the qualifiers on defensive player of the year and all defense were a little bit different, maybe you get a lot more pub around uh and buzz around Chris Dunn’s defensive season and what he did. But then Terron Lou had to pull him from the starting lineup in game seven against Denver. Uh because it just it’s tough in the postseason to not have two-way guys, right? If you have someone who’s so tilted to one end of the floor in today’s NBA, and this has been true since the dawn of the NBA, but it it is more so now is that you got to have two guys or guys who can play two ends of the floor. And so I like the ability to just throw Chris Dunn at an opponent in the regular season and just pester the heck out of them like a Tumani Kamara, like an Alex Caruso. Uh I love the appeal of that and we’ll talk about Marcus Smart uh later in the program. I like the idea in the regular season. It just becomes really interesting to me how Tailoo, it’s a good problem to have to have a lot of guards that are worth playing and deserve 20 minutes in the postseason, but you saw in that Denver series how hard it was to play with a guy that they just weren’t going to guard offensively. And there were just so many times that he was reduced to just the guy standing in the corner or not really being a a an offensive uh weapon. how hard it is to play that guy in the postseason, but in the regular season, um, he’s going to be a beast. And I’m looking forward to seeing Chris Dunn and and how they’re going to manage minutes with Brad Beal, James Harden, uh, Chris Paul, and Bogey, uh, trying to figure out those back, uh, backcourt minutes. But, man, Chris Dunn should not be overlooked as a guy who’s going to be a mainstay in this rotation. Yeah. And maybe the answer is as simple as like the defensive floor is going to remain super high as long as I Zubots is the rim protector and sort of the backline anchor and then you bring in Brook Lopez who a couple years ago was like what second in defensive player of the year voting like you if you’re going to be able to say we got 48 minutes of elite rim protection uh that probably keeps your floor high enough that you can get away with maybe a little bit less ball pressure at the point of attack if it means a higher ceiling on the offensive end of the floor. And it’s also not like Kristen’s going away. He’ll still be part of the rotation, just the role might change and adjust a little bit. Our fourth and final little number this week is six. As of the time we’re recording, the Clippers have the sixth best odds of winning the Western Conference. So, not even the championship, the West, according to Bet MGM, plus 1200 to win the Western Conference, which puts them behind the defending champion Thunder, the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Los Angeles Lakers. So, after all these additions and the offseason movement and the not youth movement, I guess the old movement, uh, does that seem the movement? Let’s just call it the sage movement, you know? Yeah, let’s go. Uh, age before beauty. There we go. So, does that seem low to you, Tom? Do you think that that the Clippers maybe belong closer to the top end of the Western bracket or this is this would have them really like on the verge of the playin tournament, but also it’s a pretty crowded west. Yeah, crowded west. I feel like if we’re going to Goldilocks this, I feel like this is this feels just right. This feels about right. is, you know, when you look at the the Clippers in the regular season, I feel like their ability to to win the actual Western Conference in the regular season, I feel like should have much shorter odds than just winning the West in the postseason, being the NBA finalist. I think OKC, it’s a tier. They’re a tier above everybody else. I mean, I think it’s just clear to me that they are above and beyond, head and shoulders above the Western Conference. But after that, the Clippers, there is a range of win totals that I think could get as high as like 58 in the regular season if every if everyone’s healthy and the roles are right. And Terron Lou is is as is upper echelon head coach and Jeff Van Gundy there too. Um there is a there’s a world in which they compete for the number one overall seed in the Western Conference. I just don’t see them winning the West in the postseason. I just don’t. um the way that this roster is constructed, but right now at Bet MGM they’re at 48 and a half wins over under for this uh upcoming regular season. Um I I’m gonna take the over on that. So I feel like sixth best in the West I feel is just right. But if we’re talking just regular season, Dan, I I’m more bullish about the Clippers. Yeah. 50 wins with 40 games from Kawhi Leonard last season and then now you add four like bonafide legit rotation players. I I I hear what you’re saying. I I think what they’ve done, you’re right to say like they’ve given themselves a chance to move closer to the top of the conference in the regular season, which does help with seating and matchups in the playoffs. And then you put yourself in position where like if somebody else for once it’s not you that loses that war of attrition if another team does you might be one lucky break one favorable matchup away from the conference finals. And like for the Clippers the Clippers we have to remember like have gone to one conference finals the whole time, right? Like I mean like they they have like the there was the one year where Kawaii got hurt and PG got them to the conference finals and that’s as far as they got. they never went to the conference finals with Chris Paul there like like even getting that far would be a pretty gargantuan accomplishment especially in this west and you know if the things if things break your way and if the benefit of your depth allows you to take advantage of some of those opportunities you know who knows how far you can go so I get where you’re where you’re coming from they can’t you no one’s going to push the thunder out of the off the top of the mountain at this point in the calendar but they’ve put themselves in position to thread that needle of maximize the encore value for now out uh larding up your books two years from now and put yourself in position to to remake on the fly if you need to and if everything breaks right, you know, maybe a new contender in the West has been born out of the wisdom movement. Yeah. Uh let’s let’s just say that they’re going to be 33.2 average age, but it could go to like 35.2 if they trade Zoo for LeBron. Okay. So, that would be interesting. Imagine if that it was like, “Hey, uh, LeBron, just kind of move on down to, uh, into it dome.” Uh, and we’ll we’ll make this happen. Um, I’m not suggesting that that’s going to happen, but I do want to talk Lakers. After the break, we’re going to talk about Marcus Smart and, uh, him joining the Lakers, which is making, uh, all of my Boston Celtics buddies just repulsed and vomiting on themselves. So, uh, Dan, after the break, we’ll talk about Marcus Smart and all these buyout ads, including Bradley Beal. Dan, I don’t know if you feel the same way. I kind of thought that Marcus Smart was older than 31. I I I I was like looking into this and being like, I don’t know how much he has left like to give to the to the Lakers. He’s like 34, right? No, dude. He’s 31. He’s 31. And so like I think when he says that he has a lot more to give and that he has more left in the tank, I kind of buy it. I kind of buy like I feel like Marcus Smart is one of those like low-key guys who are still in their prime. I think it’s just because he’s played the entire last decade like he was in Mad Max Fury Road or something like that. Like it’s it it feels like the miles add up when you play the way he does. Um, I also like I have this very distinct memory of it was when Brad Stevens was still coaching the Celtics and they were playing the Knicks at the Garden and they were like dealing with Porzingis and having a hard time because turns out 7 foot3 guys are hard to guard and Smart was just like I got him and he just went like got in his knees and at his hips and was like Porzingis couldn’t move him or you know get get rid of him and move him around and like the Celtics came back and won that game and you’re like all right that’s the guy you throw at every problem 100 miles an hour like as hard as he can possibly go and he solves it and that’s who he’s been, but yeah, over a long enough period of time, it feels like that guy has just been here forever and maybe is like in his early 40s, not 31. So yeah, like it’s not outside the realm of possibility that Marcus Smart after two pretty rough years where he picked up some unfortunate injuries and was on teams that were dealing with many problems like winds up back in a competitive context in LA alongside Luca Donuch and LeBron James on a team expected to contend and like finds himself rejuvenated. It wouldn’t be the craziest thing in the world for a 31year-old to have a second act in his career. Yeah, he feels a lot older to me and that like you said when when we’re talking about a guy who played 34 games last year dealing with a lot of injuries uh with Memphis and of course with the Washington Wizards, I feel like this is a really good flyer for the Lakers. They needed a point of attack defender, a guy who was versatile enough to like guard one through five and Marcus Smart if he’s healthy and that’s a big if. Sure. Um, I I’m excited to see if he’s going to go with the yellow like or purple hair. Uh, if he’s in the gold or per purple and gold like I’m I’m curious to see if he goes there. Uh, hearkening back to a Dennis Rodman. I feel like when you’re talking about Marcus Smart, um, he can’t be that crash test dummy anymore, right? like at this age, he’s going to be a little bit less inclined to go dive on the floor and take those charges, right? But like he’s still smart enough and strong enough to be a really plus defender. According to uh estimated plus minus defensive estimated plus minus, he was plus 1.4 every 100 possessions uh defender. One of the highest marks of any player in the NBA defensively. But of course, it’s just coming down to how many minutes can he play like that? And I think what’s also interesting here is that I feel like they’re just trolling us at this point, the Lakers or Luca that he was like, “Yeah, Luca was calling me not just once, but you know, he was hitting that uh speed dial another time to try to get me to come over to the Lakers.” Where’s LeBron in this? Where like this whole Luca is now driving this bus continuing to hammer this home is that this is Luca’s team and Marcus Smart is here for it. He it it feels nice to be recruited by courted by Luca Donuch. I did not see this storyline coming, but here we are in in late July. Not only is Marcus Smart being recruited to the Lakers and happy about it, but LeBron is nowhere to be seen in this story. I mean, I I saw LeBron recently. He was he was I think wrapping along to Not Like Us on Instagram video. So, like I mean, he’s not nowhere. he’s just maybe not involved in the recruiting aspect of things in the way that he has been at times in the past. Um, I mean, a if you’re a Lakers fan, this has to make you feel pretty good about the prospects of Luca eventually in the next couple of weeks or so, you know, when he becomes eligible to ink that extension, uh, commit himself to the Lakers for the long term. if he’s actively engaged in the recruiting efforts on who he wants to have on the roster, telling you what kind of big man he wants to play with and you go get him. uh you know making public you know positive public comments about uh you know the new ownership situation and yada yada like all of these things seem like positive momentum toward maybe it doesn’t come right away because I know he’s supposed to be going to I think with Slovenia for Euro uh Euro your basket like there will be opportunities maybe for him a little bit later to ink the deal but like moving in the direction of we’re all on the same page uh for the next few years or most of us and then LeBron can be there if he wants to be or or he can be someplace else but if LeBron is there next season which at this point given that he opted into his contract and Rich Paul had said he has not they’ve not there’s been no you know trade requests there’s been no other you know communication in that regard where he’s trying to get out of out of town the Lakers are you know at the end of last season they needed two things in really big ways they needed a they needed more point of attack help defensively on the perimeter and they needed a taller guy who could play center uh because they didn’t really have much of that at the end have Lopez or Alex Cruz. So, I kind of I just kind of forget like a point of attack guy and Zubots. Yeah, there was a few a few guys that have that have come through LA that have been helpful and useful. And then uh but you know, listen, Tayen Horton Tucker there, you know, we were all we were all excited about that. Uh maybe not as excited as the Lakers were, I guess, when they chose him over Alex Caruso, but neither here nor there. Listen, water under the bridge and bygones and bygones and whatever. You get a 31-year-old Marcus Smart, you know, like that’s, you know, it all comes full circle here. I I look at this Marcus Smart situation and I’m like, “Hey, Marcus Smart at $30 million a year, not great, but Marcus Smart at $5 million now that’s that’s a good value ad for your team.” And and this kind of goes along with what is happening across the league is, you know, Bradley Beal and the stigma of being like a no trade clause max guy. It’s erased now because now he’s got this new deal with the Clippers and he can start fresh and rehabilitating his image. Same way with DeAndre Aton, same way with Marcus Smart, same thing with uh I mean to a lesser extent Jordan Clarkson. But the Knicks are getting Jordan Clarkson um away from whatever was happening in Utah over the last couple years and bringing him into a winning situation where at age 33, I think he still has a little bit left in the tank. So I want to ask you along with Damen Lillard who was waved, bought out by the Milwaukee Bucks and is now with the Blazers. Of those five, Marcus Smart, Bradley Beal, DeAndre Aiden, Jordan Clarkson, and Damen Lillard, which new situation of these buyout guys who are veterans that are now with a new team, which one are you most excited about with their new club? Well, first off, Jordan Clarkson being two years older than Marcus Smart. I would never have guessed that in a million years. I just assumed he was younger. I don’t know. Also, maybe it’s like the difference between a, you know, sober-minded defensive first guard and a guy who’s just shooting every time he gets the ball. Maybe that you think one guy’s older than the other guy. I don’t know. Uh, one one’s a young man’s behavior and the other isn’t. Um, to me, I think it’s Eightton, right? Like I mean, we should start like the the Dame question I think has to go to the side because he’s not playing this year or I would be extraordinarily surprised if he got back in time to play this season after rupturing the Achilles during the playoffs. that see the all things seem to be pointing toward like there’s a full year to figure out what Scoot Henderson and Shaden Sharp and Drew Holiday like how everything coaleses there before Dame even gets back into the picture. So like I’m bullish on that just in a overarching like I think it’s probably good for the organization but in terms of encore fit we had a year to hit the snooze button on that with Aton like he’s the only guy on that list that’s not 30 plus right he’s a 27 year old who doesn’t have the significant injury history like wait wait wait wait birthday wishes are in order for DeAndre Eton you said 27 this is breaking news he’s 27 and DeAndre Eaton happy birthday what we’re giving you is a a segment on our show where we talk about how we’re bullish on you or we I shouldn’t say we. I don’t know. I don’t want to presume I’m bullish on on your your I watched a lot of DeAndre Aton last year. I watched a lot of it. Um I have some I have some thoughts on what he can bring to. But could if I remember right, maybe one of like the first guys we talked about doing the big number when we talked about like theoretical stretch fives or fake stretch fives back in the Didn’t work out. Didn’t work out. Didn’t do this little stretchy fives. um at the top of the key. I think a lot better than uh than in the corners, but uh as you were saying about Dominating. Okay, we might have to All right, I feel less good about it now that we brought up his nickname, but like clear glaring need, right? But by the end of the of the playoffs last year, like JJ Reick did not trust uh any of the big men that they had. Didn’t trust Jackson Hayes was playing f small ball only five guys. DeAndre Eaton clearly feels a need for a sevenfooter who can, you know, run and chew gum at the same time, defend, finish around the basket. Um, he’s going for, you know, with all due respect to what the Blazers have been putting on the floor the last couple of seasons, not playing with any real highle playmakers, uh, to playing with Luca, LeBron, and Austin Reeves, which I think the last time we saw him with like high level guard play, he was actually a really efficient pick and roll finisher, like 1.2 2 points per possession, 65% field goal percentage his last three seasons in Phoenix according to Synergy. If you like look at all the the pick and roll finishing there, he doesn’t look like much of a lob or you don’t think of him as a lob threat, but he finished like 73 aloops last couple years in in Portland again without super high level consistent guard play. I think that has a really good chance to play up if as long as he’s healthy and you know, if he commits himself to screening and diving, there’s like a role that needs filling. He has the tools and the physicality to be able to do it. He’s not coming off of a major injury. He’s not going into a bench role like Beiel. I don’t know exactly what his role is going to be. Clarkson is going to go into the Knicks bench. Dame is not going to play next year. Uh Smart’s role is going to be more defense first, poss probably lower offensive usage. Like Aton looks like he’s going into a real big role as the starting center of the Los Angeles Lakers. That feels to me like the biggest opportunity to succeed of any of these five guys. Yeah, certainly the highest ceiling I feel like is DA playing and that’s if you prefer a nickname for DeAndre Aton that isn’t dominating, you can go with DA because that’s how we all called him over the last couple years. So DA is someone that if he’s motivated and he’s running up and down the floor and he’s setting hard screens, he’s an upper echelon starting center in the NBA. It’s just how often can you get that? And with a team that was in a rebuild situation where he was the number one guy, the highest paid player on the roster last season, I think you’re going to see a different DA in the Lakers where it’s a different mindset. It’s a different star structure where Luca Dodic and LeBron James are your teammates, JJ Reic is your head coach. Like there’s a different vibe around this Lakers team than you would have when DA is the highest paid player on your team and different leadership um responsibilities with DeAndre Aton last year versus this upcoming season. And how much he’s going to be making and the burden of being that leader I think is going to be lifted um on this Lakers team. So, the pecking order is much more like where it was when they went to the NBA finals with Phoenix and Chris Paul and and uh and Devin Booker where he was just asked to be a hardcreening rim running rim protector for Chris Paul and Deon Booker and they went to the NBA finals with it. There is a version of that DA that can really help the Lakers this upcoming season. Marcus Smart uh with the injury questions and the fact that it feels like he’s 35, not 31. I feel like the ceiling on him is a little bit lower than DA. Uh and you and you’re right, is that mid-range jumper, it’s not just the rim running, it’s that mid-range jumper that is is really good offense in a pinch for a team that I think with LeBron and Luca, uh you’re going to probably want to have a little off speed pitch in there in terms of scoring and and DA can provide that. Um, so yeah, I think Bradley Beal in terms of the median outcome, I’m actually more bullish on Bradley Beal. I think DA can be like big ceiling, high ceiling player, high risk, high reward, but I do see that Bradley Beal probably has in terms of the median output. I feel best about Bradley Beal on the Clippers. Um, but we’ll see. We’ll see what happens here going forward on the on all of these situations. Very fluid. Uh I could see Jordan Clarkson having a bigger role on the Knicks than as constituted right now. Uh because of all those miles on the tires and offensively they’re going to need that with Mike Brown taking over as head coach playing up and down three-point shooting. A guy who’s just a more dynamic scorer than uh than Marcus Smart is. I could see Jordan Clarkson just like oh wait did he just drop 30 for the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden against uh the New Orleans Pelicans last night? Yeah, I could see that happening with Clarkson. Ultimately though, um long-term all these situations just feel like these are make good kind of contract years for these guys. Like they want to rehabilitate their reputation around the league, their trade value or their contract value. Um and I think as a feel-good story, Damen Lillard is far and away the best situation here and that I’m really excited to be watching next year. But DA is such a wild card that I don’t know what to expect with the Lakers. I don’t. But I agree with you that if things go right with DA and catching lobs from Luca and being the rim protector that they need, they certainly have a larger void there at his position than any of the the the other candidates we’re talking about. Yeah. The final sort of uh smallest of all possible numbers, I guess it’s because it’s an hour in the C block is uh we’ll go with 8.1. That’s how many million dollars DeAndre Eaton is making this year and how much he’s got a player option for in 2627. This is the chance like you’re coming out of your age 27 season into your age 28 season. This is your athletic prime. This is the prime earning years for a guy who was just on a max and is now making $8 million. Like if you like the opportunity is in front of you. Luca Donuch is about to be the face of the Lakers for the next, you know, handful of years and he’s looking for a guy to run with. This is your like this is the try out. be good enough this year to have them want to pay you to keep doing this with Luca for the next half decade or to make somebody else come off the top rope with a deal that will dramatically increase that 8.1. And so I mean this is the opportunity that’s in front of him. It’s in front of the Lakers and now we got to see if they can make the most out of it. Yeah, I’m excited. Uh we’re going to see a lot of dominating I think in Lakerland next year. It’s be great. At some point I’m going to not reflexively laugh but also wse when I hear that. But today not the day, Tom. Today’s not the day. That’s right. Uh Holly Luca, uh also a great nickname, so we can see that a little bit more. Uh thanks to Jason Gallagher for that one. Um and yeah, this is this is the point in the off season that, you know, we’re we’re digging deep on buyout candidates and remaining free agents. If you want to learn more about the best remaining free agents out there and this the status of all these restricted free agents and Jonathan Kaminga and Cam Thomas and Josh Giddy, go head over to Yahoo Sports and listen, actually read uh don’t listen, read Dan Divine’s breakdown over at Yahoo Sports. You can catch it right now. Um I want to thank It’s summertime, but everyone’s dialed in over behind the scenes. Want to thank Stone, Mike, and the entire squad that does all the dirty work behind the scenes to make this show a reality. Please watch The Big Number on YouTube. Go subscribe wherever you listen to this podcast. Uh, and leave us a rating, review, and please five stars uh for that. We’ll be back next week with another edition of The Big Number. Until then, please go get your Worthers caramels and enjoy the the the really steamy summer ahead. And please kick up your feet and enjoy some unsweet iced tea like all you old heads out there. I’ll be right there. right there with you playing pickle ball.

Tom Haberstroh and Dan Devine crunched the numbers after the CP3 news was announced: the 2025-26 LA Clippers are now, officially, the oldest team in NBA history. With an average age of 33.2 years old (!), the Clippers have surpassed the previous record held by the Stockton-and-Malone Utah Jazz. Could this actually work out in LA’s favor? Tom and Dan think the Clippers’ depth and versatility could propel them to the top of the West if things break their way. Don’t miss this episode of The Big Number, which deep dives on Brook Lopez, Bradley Beal, James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Chris Paul and the rest of the seasoned vets that have their eyes on the prize after an interesting offseason.

(00:00) – Intro
(1:20) – Clippers have the oldest roster in history
(15:45) – Little Numbers: Are Clippers built to succeed in 2025 despite their age?
(33:15) – Marcus Smart joins the Lakers + our favorite offseason additions

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