The Clippers REAL Plan Is…

The Clippers REAL Plan Is…

The LA Clippers have been one of the most interesting teams of the entire NBA offseason with a ton of bigname moves that would make you think that this team is all about right now. But actually, the Clippers have a different plan. One that sets them up not only for this year, but for some even bigger moves in the future. Let’s talk about the Clippers off season. One of the things that I think gets overlooked is the fact that they brought back James Harden. That wasn’t a guarantee. They signed him to a new contract. And there’s some details in that contract that are very, very interesting to me that we’re going to talk about later. They brought in Brook Lopez, who’s a fantastic fit with their roster. They’ve needed depth behind Zubots at the five spot for a while now. And the fact that Lopez could maybe even play alongside Zubats because of his floor spacing at times if they wanted to have really, really big lineups. Obviously, those would struggle in certain constructions defensively. And realistically, Lopez is probably playing like 15 to 20 minutes a game off the bench for this team, but still a very, very good addition. They also traded away Norman Powell in exchange for John Collins. At the time they hadn’t yet signed Bradley Beal. So I didn’t love the move for the Clippers because in a vacuum I would have just rather had Norm Powell rather than John Collins and they needed depth in the front court and then once they traded away Norm Powell they needed depth in the back court. So before they actually signed Bradley Beal I didn’t love the move but I could understand wanting to have the versatility that John Collins provides in the front court as a lob threat and as an improved three-point shooter. Norm Powell was just so good for them last year that I kind of questioned it. But the big reason that that move went through is one of the things we’re going to talk about later. The fact that they didn’t want to sign Norm Powell to an extension. They want to keep their future cap space open, which is important for some of their future plans. And then of course, they follow that move up with signing Bradley Beal and then also Chris Paul. So the fact that you’re able to trade away a backcourt guy to get front court depth and John Collins, I think is really going to help them. I think John Collins could potentially start for the Clippers this year in certain matchups. And you’re able to backfill that Norm Powell spot with someone like Bradley Beal and Chris Paul. obviously makes that trade a win for the Clippers. The Beal in Paul Fit specifically though is definitely a little bit weird to me. I just assumed that when Bradley Beiel decided to sign with the Clippers that he was going to be a starter alongside James Harden because he had all these other opportunities potentially to go to Milwaukee and play a ton and have a big role. A couple of other teams as well. And I just assume that because Beal got to pick his location, he got to pick his team as a free agent. He went to a team that promised him he would start. It hasn’t really been made clear whether that would be the case or not. I would like the Beal move a lot more for the Clippers if he was coming off the bench, at least initially, because him and Harden together in the back court defensively is going to be a complete disaster. And starting Chris Dunn in the back court alongside James Harden was really successful for the Clippers last year. They built this defensive identity with Chris Dunn and Derrick Jones starting together. And although that created some offensive problems for them in the postseason, I prefer to see Bradley Beal start off the bench. Then Chris Paul. I I I’m not really expecting a ton from him. Like it’s a cool story. It’s cool that he’s back in LA, but he’s probably going to play like 15 minutes a game for them. It’s going to be nice to have Beal and Paul to orchestrate the offense when either Harden is hurt or when he’s just not in the game. So I like all of the moves for the Clippers and it of course was a successful offseason. If you look at all of these moves in a vacuum, you might think that this is a team that is desperate to compete and these are win now moves cuz these are all with the exception of John Collins. These are all older players in Lopez, Chris Paul, and Bradley Beiel. These are all guys that are clearly wanting to try and chase a title. And you’d be correct on the surface, this is obviously a team that wants to be good next year. They want to compete. They had a great regular season last year as they opened up their new arena after taking a big risk, a successful risk by letting Paul George walk the prior offseason. And it’s a team that I’m sure sees themselves as in the second tier of contenders in the Western Conference. They’re not up there with Oklahoma City and then I would put Denver and then maybe Houston up there kind of close to that tier as well, but they’re probably just below all of those teams. And they easily could have beaten Denver in the first round last year. That was a crazy series. You had the Aaron Gordon like buzzer beater putback game. The Clippers could have been in the second round and potentially further than that in the postseason last year. And I think their roster has gotten marketkedly better this off seasonason, but that is just the plan for this year. I think more interestingly for the Clippers is what their plan is beyond this season. Because all of the moves I’ve just talked about, John Collins, Bradley Beal, Chris Paul Lopez, all of these could easily be seen as one-year moves. I’d expect Bradley Beiel, especially if he has a successful season, to go back into free agency next offseason, potentially sign elsewhere. Lopez is not a super long-term commitment. John Collins is on an expiring contract. Chris Paul not a long-term commitment. And when you really start to look at the way the Clippers have structured their payroll, you start to understand what their real plan is. If you look at 2026, there’s actually a path for the Clippers to create max cap space if they really, really wanted to. That would require getting rid of James Harden. If you look at his contract, the secondyear player option, he gets the player option, but it’s not fully guaranteed. So, they could technically get rid of him and save a bunch of money on his contract next year if they had an opportunity to bring in a free agent that they really, really wanted to alongside of Kawhi Leonard. But then beyond that, if you look at the summer of 2027 for the LA Clippers, a summer in which a lot of big-time names are going to be free agents, they currently only have one name on the books that makes any significant money, and that’s Ivata Zubat, who’s good and worth way more than the $20 million he’s going to be getting paid in the summer of 2027, and that’s a really nice complimentary player for whoever you bring in. And without really anything on the books, it’s one of the reasons they didn’t want to sign Paul George to an extension. It’s one of the reasons they haven’t signed Harden or Kawaii to long long-term extensions. They are targeting, yes, maybe the summer of 2026 with Hipmax cap space, but certainly the summer of 2027. You just look at the list of free agents that could theoretically be available in the summer of 2027. You’re talking about Giannis, Anthony Davis, Luca, Joic. Obviously, some of those guys are going to get extensions. I would expect Luca specifically to sign an extension relatively soon. As of the recording of this video, Joic has already said he isn’t signing one this offseason, but that’s mostly related to the fact that he can make a lot more money if he waits a year and signs an extension next off season. The AD thing is definitely up in the air in Dallas. They obviously traded a bunch for him, but there’s no guarantee that situation is going to go well. We obviously know that the Giannis situation is completely up in the air and teams are always monitoring that and making sure they have cap space to potentially pounce on that situation. There’s a scenario in 2027 where the Clippers basically do what they did in 2019 except fully with cap space rather than with a trade. They could have Zubots on the roster. They could sign Giannis. They could sign Joic, Luca, Trey Young, Anthony Davis. Like there’s so many guys possibly available in 2027. And that really is what everything has been leading to for the last two off seasons for the LA Clippers. Now, if you watch some of my other videos on this channel, you might be thinking, “Okay, but I thought everybody just signed extensions now. I thought free agency was basically over. Teams don’t really plan for free agency anymore. It’s all about trades. And although to an extent that is true, everything in the NBA is cyclical. It goes through cycles. And we have just been in a period the last couple of years where teams have just not had a lot of cap space. And so players end up signing extensions in advance of becoming free agents because they want to make sure that they’re getting their money and not going through what some of these restricted free agents are going through right now. the Cam Thomases of the world, guys that theoretically should be getting paid a significant amount of money. Jonathan Kaminga is another name there. They decided not to sign extensions. Now there’s no cap space and they’re in a terrible situation. The Max players around the league don’t want to be in that situation either because teams are starting to be stingier and stingier about their big extensions as evidenced by someone like James Harden who’s really signed like one-year contracts for the last couple of seasons in LA. And what could make 2027 different than the last couple of years in free agency is one, some of these bigger contracts coming off the books, but two, teams preparing for it. Just having cap space available is something you can plan for. And the reason you want to plan for it is if there are going to be a bunch of big names available in a specific offseason. That’s what happened in 2019 when Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, why Leonard, and others were available as free agents in 2019. So a bunch of teams had cap space. And the same thing can happen in the summer 2027. So yes, some of those guys are going to sign extensions. I would expect Luca to sign an extension this offseason. I would expect Joic to sign an extension next off seasonason. But someone like Giannis could absolutely be available as a free agent in 2027, which could create a 2019 situation all over again. And it goes back to really what started this whole kind of second era with the Clippers and with the Kawawaii era is the statement that they put out when they decided to let Paul George leave in free agency last offseason. A move that admittedly I did not like. I thought they could have gotten some kind of value out of Paul George via trade rather than just letting him walk for nothing. But they made it clear in that statement that they are prioritizing flexibility with the second apron with all these different things. They want to be able to make different moves. They want to be able to plan for 2027 and they’ve done a fantastic job of that over the last 18 months or so. Ever since they let go of Paul George, resigning hard into the contracts they have, keeping their flexibility open for the possibility of a crazy off seasonason in 2027, all while still putting together an extremely competitive team, a team that could have made a deep run in the playoffs last year had they been able to get by Denver. And I frankly I love the plan for the LA Clippers. I think it’s a really nice in between of trying to win now while keeping your options open for the future. And they’ve turned into a real like stable and smart franchise over the last decade or so in the NBA. Obviously, there’s no guarantee that this plan works in either direction. There’s no guarantee they’re actually going to be able to sign anyone in the summer of 2027. No guarantee anyone’s actually going to be available. And even if they get the guys that they want, as evidenced by the history of the Clippers with Kawawaii and Paul George, there’s no guarantee that that is going to work either. But no matter whether it works or not, the process of the decision-making for the LA Clippers for the first time maybe in the history of the franchise makes sense. They can win now. They can try and be competitive this year. They can have all this flexibility moving forward. And it creates a situation that is almost in the opposite direction of what maybe some of their moves this off season would make you believe initially where it’s a team that’s oh they’re trying to compete they’re bringing in all these older guys they’re bringing in you know Bradley Bo all these big names but in reality they want flexibility they want to compete and those moves allow them to do

The LA Clippers have been one of the most interesting teams of the entire NBA offseason – with a ton of big names moves like signing Bradley Beal and Chris Paul that would make you think this team is all about RIGHT NOW…

But in reality, the Clippers have a different plan. One that sets them up for not only this year, but for some even bigger moves in the future

#nba #clippers #laclippers