The Los Angeles Clippers entered this season as one of the heavy favorites to win the NBA Championship. Despite the boatload of talent on their roster, it seemed ironic because their players lacked the chemistry of playing together because of the injuries incurred over the past few years. It starts from the top with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George missing several games every season, thus affecting their overall performance in April and May.
With a 13-10 record, the Clippers still need to clean up a plethora of mistakes if they indeed want to compete with the powerhouses in the NBA. Leonard has played only five games so far, and George's hamstring strain is still lingering. With the uncertainty on the Clippers squad, it is inevitable for a trade to be on the horizon. A player who has been underutilized and would benefit a bunch of other franchises this year is Robert Covington.
Clippers trade candidate: Robert Covington
Unfortunately, Robert Covington's minutes have dropped incredibly this year because of the deep roster in La La land. There are contests wherein he does not even touch the court despite paying him over $10 million this season. The primary problem is because of the slew of forwards on their lineup, along with the hesitation of head coach Tyronn Lue to insert him for more minutes at the five position.
It is understandable for Lue to stick to that approach because Covington will have a tough time jostling and bumping it with the natural bigs at that position. Furthermore, Lue decides to play guys like Nicolas Batum or Terance Mann over Covington because of their athleticism and versatility as Covington struggles with on-ball defense.
Even with his prolific long-range shooting and outstanding help defense, the Clippers may need a backup big man to Ivica Zubac. It does not necessarily need to be a traditional big like Zubac because he might get played off the floor in the playoffs, but they will need an Al Horford or Larry Nance Jr. type of player who could play at the small-ball center without opening up a mismatch at that position.
Ivica Zubac is in the midst of a career year, but they should preserve him more for the stretch run rather than making him play over 30 minutes every night. For Los Angeles to address this weakness, the Clippers can make Robert Covington available in the trade market and execute a deal that would address their weaknesses.
Covington's contract next season is lower compared to this year, so that could be another incentive for a fringe team to absorb his contract. Last year, the Clippers had Isaiah Hartenstein and even Montrezl Harrell a couple of seasons back as the backup big man who was phenomenal for the Clippers. The depth at that position is shallow across the league, so L.A. must keep in mind not to invest too many assets to fill in that position.
It has been reiterated multiple times that the depth of the Clippers is one of the deepest in the NBA, so trading Robert Covington is not the biggest problem they must rectify as a team. However, it seems a waste to pay him a ton of dollars but not use him for every game because of Tyronn Lue's rotation. The Clippers will be in the top six of the conference, but the question mark is always their performance in the postseason when the lights are its brightest.
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