Well, what an offseason it turned out to be for the Los Angeles Clippers. The focus of the summer wasn’t on the additions to the team, which will be very interesting to see. No, in fact the story of the Clippers offseason really isn’t even a story about the basketball they’ve put on the court in the last few years.
The Clippers have been under league investigation for the last month or so due to the outstanding reporting of Pablo Torre and his team at Pablo Torre Finds Out. The long and the short
of it is that the Clippers may have been illegally circumventing the salary cap through a company called “Aspiration”. Dallas Mavericks season ticket holder Mark Cuban went on Torre’s podcast to try and disprove the allegations, but the reality was not what he had envisioned.
For the full story, I can’t recommend his podcast enough. But you came here for the basketball preview, so without further adieu, it’s time to dive in.
Los Angeles Clippers: Over/Under 47.5 wins (-104/-118)
Last season: 50-32
Additions: Chris Paul, Bradley Beal, Brook Lopez, John Collins, Yanic Konan Niederhauser (30th pick)
Losses: Norm Powell (Heat)
The disappointing thing about the scandal that has engulfed this franchise is that I really like what they did this offseason. Losing Norm stinks, but being able to add in Chris Paul and Brad Beal to bolster that backcourt is really strong work. The Clips should also have quality depth behind Ivica Zubac with the additions of Lopez, Collins and Niederhauser. As always, the availability of Kawhi Leonard and James Harden will determine where this team goes. Beyond that, how big of a cloud is this NBA investigation, and what are the repercussions of it? It shouldn’t be an issue for this year, but it does set up a “last best chance” type of situation.
