What are the Clippers’ draft night plans?
What’s certain: For the first time since 2018, the Clippers enter the NBA Draft with their own first-round pick. They’re slated to select a prospect at No. 25 tonight when the league’s annual selection show will be held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
What’s not: What else the Clippers could have up their sleeve. The team’s front office has proved aggressive and creative on recent draft nights, swapping picks, prospects and established players in an effort to improve the roster.
A roster that last season went deeper into the postseason than any team in franchise history, finally reaching the Western Conference finals, where they lost in six games to former Clipper Chris Paul and the Phoenix Suns.
Since the Clippers’ season ended June 30, star forward Kawhi Leonard has undergone surgery on a partially torn right ACL that kept him from playing in his team’s final eight playoff games.
Now, the wait is on to see how long his recovery will take — and, yes, whether he’ll opt in or opt out of the final year of his $36 million contract. And if he does opt out, whether he’ll entertain offers from other teams. If so, whether he’ll stick with the Clippers, who sacrificed substantially to pair Leonard with his fellow Southern California native Paul George before the 2019-20 season.
So far, there have been no indications that Leonard plans to depart.
But before any of those big, pressing questions can be addressed, the Clippers have that 25th overall pick to consider.
The Clippers don’t announce which prospects audition for them in pre-draft workouts, but a handful of names have emerged either via their own social media posts, other internet sleuthing or regional reporting.
Among them: Arizona State guard Josh Christopher (Mayfair High), Auburn point guard Sharife Cooper, Duke forward Matthew Hurt, Houston guard Quentin Grimes, Virginia Commonwealth guard Nah’Shon “Bones” Hyland, Florida guard Tre Mann, West Virginia guard Miles “Deuce” McBride, UC Santa Barbara guard JaQuori McLaughlin and Hillcrest Prep small forward Kyree Walker.
There’s a general sense that the Clippers will want to bolster their backcourt. Guard Reggie Jackson, a breakout star last season, is a free agent. Neither Patrick Beverley nor Luke Kennard have emerged as facilitators capable of really taking the load off Leonard and George, and veteran Rajon Rondo wasn’t the play-making answer in the postseason that the Clippers hoped when they traded Lou Williams to Atlanta for him midseason.
In its mock draft, Sports Illustrated has the Clippers selecting the 6-foot-1 Cooper, who is known for his passing and handle (and whose sister is Sparks point guard Te’a Cooper — teammate of Nia Coffey, who is the older sibling of Clippers wing Amir).
The Athletic likes Rokas Jokubaitis, an experienced 20-year-old guard who withdrew from consideration from the 2020 draft to spend another season with his Lithuanian team Zalgiris.
The Ringer predicts the Clippers could choose Florida’s Mann because the 6-3 shooter has the potential to help generate offense that, without Leonard (and possibly Jackson), could be paramount.
CBS Sports predicts Illinois shooting guard Ayo Dosunmu — a 6-5 on-ball defender — could find a home on coach Tyronn Lue’s team.
But L.A. also could look inside, for another center capable of playing in Lue’s successfully switchy small ball lineups — someone such as Spanish forward Usman Garuba, a 6-8 energy guy who has played for Real Madrid (and who Dime projects as the Clippers’ pick).
Another option in the post, per ESPN’s mock draft board: North Carolina’s Day’Ron Sharpe, also a nonstop-motor guy who checks in at 6-10 and 265 pounds.