Despite some very rosy predictions from the national NBA media, the Los Angeles Clippers are off to a dismal start this season. They got thumped 129-101 on Thursday by the Orlando Magic, which dropped their record to 4-11, and even though they have several big names on their roster, their roster is looking more faulty with each game.
Eight of their players are over 30 years of age, including Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Bradley Beal and Chris Paul, arguably the biggest names on their roster. They also have a lack of draft capital in the coming years after giving up much of it to acquire Harden, as well as Paul George, the nine-time All-Star forward who left in free agency a year ago.
The Clippers may not be able to salvage this season, but they may feel they need to salvage their short and medium-term future, or else fans may cancel their season tickets at Intuit Dome, their new state-of-the-art arena, en masse.
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With his team, the Charlotte Hornets, also off to a 4-11 start, star guard LaMelo Ball is reportedly open to being traded. CBS sportswriter Sam Quinn made the case that the Clippers would be arguably the best landing spot for Ball, especially since he grew up some 30 minutes east of downtown Los Angeles.
“There’s something poetic about sending the Chino Hills star back home after the other Los Angeles team traded his brother just two years into his career,” Quinn wrote. “The Clippers are always looking for ways of one-upping the [Los Angeles] Lakers and Charlotte might have one waiting for them on a silver platter. More pressingly, the Clippers are an exceedingly old team with no clear future. Ball is at least a direction. He’s someone who can fill an arena for a few years and maybe help you recruit year next big fish. (Head coach) Ty Lue is perfectly capable of holding stars accountable.
“… Ball’s specific gifts could fill in some blanks for a roster that lacks creativity beyond James Harden and athleticism really anywhere. Only the [Brooklyn] Nets are scoring fewer fast-break points per game than the Clippers, and Brooklyn is trying to lose.”
Ball, who was the No. 3 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, was the Rookie of the Year in 2021 and made the All-Star team during his second season in the league. He’s averaging 21.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, 9.6 assists and 1.4 steals a game to start this season.
While Quinn pointed out that Ball is a high-risk, high-reward player, he would provide the Clippers with some much-needed bounce and athleticism. Because of the age of their roster, they play at a snail’s pace and have to maintain a very slow tempo in order to have a chance to win games. In the modern NBA, it is very hard to be a winning team, let alone a championship team, without creating pace on a consistent basis.
One risk with Ball is his lack of efficiency. For his career, he shoots 42% from the field, and he’s at 38.5% overall and 29.8% from 3-point range this season. However, he has shown some potential as a potent 3-point shooter in the past, especially in his second and third seasons when he made 38.9% and 37.6% of his 3-point attempts, respectively.
He has also been injury-prone. In the previous three seasons, he appeared in just 105 of a possible 246 games, and he has already missed six games this season because of an ankle injury.
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But the Clippers may not be in a position to wait for the perfect opportunity to cash in their chips and get younger and more athletic. If they have the type of environment that would be conducive to bringing out the best in Ball, he could end up being their best option to reload right now.
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