The last two offseasons for the Los Angeles Clippers have played out like season finales of long-running sitcoms. Last offseason we had the exit of the franchise’s all-time best player in Chris Paul as well as the exodus of starters Luc Richard Mbah A Moute (more on him later) and JJ Redick. While they retained Blake Griffin and Deandre Jordan, the Lob City era was officially over.
Bringing it to this year, we saw the trade of Blake Griffin in February and the free-agent exit of Deandre Jordan officially stamping the end of this era and a push for the future. In the Griffin trade, the Clippers received a lottery pick that turned out to be Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and two starters in Tobias Harris and Avery Bradley. Not a bad haul for an injury prone, expensive forward turning 30 this year.
Along with these moves, we saw the trade of Austin Rivers, head coach Doc Rivers’ son, the trade of Sam Dekker, the releasing of CJ Williams and player pickups in Mike Scott, Jonathon Motley, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Marcin Gortat. It was a busy offseason for the Clips and unpacking this was fun.
Let’s look at some takeaways from the 2018 NBA offseason for L.A.
Next Up: Takeaway 3