The Forgotten Los Angeles Clippers Could Be Championship Ready

Going into the 2022-2023 season, there’s already a strong field of candidates eyeing the Larry O’Brien championship trophy.

The Boston Celtics acquired Malcolm Brogdon, strengthening the defending Eastern Conference champions even further.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and his Milwaukee Bucks will presumably have Khris Middleton back for next year’s playoffs, pending no repeat injury, catapulting them back into the upper tier of the league.

Golden State, the current defending champion, isn’t likely to drop off all that much, if at all, given the forthcoming improvements of Jordan Poole, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, and – hopefully – James Wiseman.

The Denver Nuggets will be able to flank two-time MVP Nikola Jokić with now healthy Michael Porter Jr and Jamal Murray, injecting much-needed depth and talent to a roster that could find themselves in a deep playoff run in about 10 months.

Joel Embiid is coming off the best year of his career, and the Sixers saw a major leap from Tyrese Maxey, and still retained James Harden over the summer. They too could be a team to watch.

Then there’s the periphery teams. Could the acquisition of Christian Wood, and further improvements from Luka Dončić turn the Mavericks into contenders?

Could the Bulls, who sat atop the Eastern Conference standings for months, finally be healthy enough to enter the playoffs in full strength?

Will the acquisition of Rudy Gobert turn the Minnesota Timberwolves into contenders? Or what the Atlanta Hawks, who traded for Dejounte Murray?

There are plenty of teams to discuss, but one seems to largely be forgotten. It’s time to turn our attention to the Los Angeles Clippers.

The return of Kawhi Leonard

After missing all of last season, the perennial All-Star forward is returning to once again pair up with Paul George. Only, the Clippers spent last season strengthening the margins, adding talents like Robert Covington and Norman Powell, and this offseason signing John Wall.

The team Leonard is returning to is drastically different, considerably deeper, and is in possession of far more firepower than when he was last healthy. This should allow the 31-year-old to play less grueling minutes during the regular season, and be far more selective with his shots when he’s on the court.

One could even argue that Leonard wouldn’t need to take on huge defensive responsibilities on a nightly basis due to the presence of George, Covington, Wall, Nicolas Batum, and Marcus Morris. Some nights it will be needed, and for the Clippers it’s also crucial that Leonard keeps himself fine-tuned for the postseason, but overall there simply isn’t a major need for Leonard to be the same All-NBA caliber player during the regular season, as long as he brings it in the postseason.

Also worth noting is that the Clippers still have Luke Kennard on the roster, who is entering his third year with the franchise. The 26-year-old led the NBA in three-point efficiency last season, offering elite floor spacing for both Leonard and George when they’re on the court together. The Clippers, overall, have a wide variety of useful role players who can mix and match their fit with the star duo, allowing the Clippers to become one of the best two-way teams in the entire league.

Getting Leonard back gives the team a player who can close out games by creating his own looks, or use the final five minutes of a game to lock in defensively on an opposing star player. While George is no slouch in those departments either, Leonard is quite simply the better overall player. His timely shot-selection, and sense of where the ball needs to go, is what has made him a two-time NBA Finals MVP.

At no point in his career has Leonard had as much to work with as he will this season, which should make for an interesting case study in terms of how and when a star player of his caliber needs to apply himself, and when he can afford to sit back and let his teammates take on larger roles.

Lack of size

The one area of potential need is up front. While Ivica Zubac is still on the roster, and projects as the starting center, there isn’t a lot of size elsewhere.

George, Batum, and Morris top out at 6’8, and the rest of the roster is primarily between 6’3 and 6’7. That means, in a nutshell, the Clippers are absolutely huge on the perimeter, but don’t have a lot of size up front, nor depth wise. The team will have to get by at times by playing Morris at center, which is a bit of a risk when going up against bigger players.

Will the Clippers have enough to slow down centers like Jokić or Embiid? Or what about Antetokounmpo, who is a 6’11 dynamo, scoring mostly near the rim?

There’s still time for the Clippers to find a big center during the season via trade, but it’s certainly a topic they need to hash out internally before the trade deadline.

Whatever size issue they do have, it’s worth mentioning that it won’t be much of an issue during the regular season where teams are a bit lackadaisical when it comes to preparing for one another due to the heavy game toll. It’s solely a potential playoff problem.

For now though, the Clippers are still ahead of the curve compared to most squads. They, for whatever reason, don’t attract as much attention as their neighbors, the Lakers, but that should almost work to their advantage. The longer they can fly under the radar, the better for them.

Unless noted otherwise, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball-Reference. All salary information via Spotrac. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.