The Los Angeles Clippers have faced numerous roadblocks in their quest to put together a championship contender with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George leading the way. And while both guys are back on the court this season, the roadblocks have only continued to pile up and get in the Clippers way of achieving their true goal.
Leonard and George have both dealt with injury issues early on this season, as has pretty much every single player on their roster. This hasn't prevented the Clippers from having a strong start to the season, but in the crowded Western Conference, their 17-14 record only has them in the eighth seed right now.
It's worth noting the gap between the eight seed Clippers and the one seed Memphis Grizzlies is just 3.5 games, but the Clippers may have to make some upgrades to their roster if they truly want to contend for a title this season. The easiest way to do that is through the trade market, so even though it's still far away, let's take a look at some early predictions for the Clippers NBA trade deadline dealings.
2. The Clippers will trade away Robert Covington
The Clippers have quite a lot of depth, but it feels like the makeup of their bench needs to be realigned in a sense to focus on what they truly need right now. Los Angeles has more frontcourt depth than backcourt depth right now, so it makes sense to unload some of their extra frontcourt players and replace them with some backcourt players instead.
One guy who looks increasingly likely to get traded is Robert Covington. Despite getting re-signed this past offseason, Covington has played sparingly for much of the season, which is a bit wasteful by the Clippers. Covington is a versatile defender who has become a useful three-and-d piece throughout his career.
The issue is that Covington hasn't really been playing enough to get into a rhythm this season. He's only featured when other players are out injured, so assuming this team can ever actually get healthy, he will be left on the bench to collect dust as the season goes on. As a result, moving him may make a lot of sense for Los Angeles at the deadline.
Covington may not be the key rotation piece he once was, but for a team with less depth than the Clippers, he could play a big role for them. Covington has the ability to play every spot in the front court, which is very rare, and if he can begin to shoot closer to 35 percent from behind the arc, there will be some real value for teams looking to add a versatile veteran to their bench.
1. The Clippers will swing a deal for Coby White
If they find the right team, the Clippers might be able to use Covington to shore up their backcourt depth. That team might just be the Chicago Bulls, who need a little bit of everything. The Bulls trade deadline strategy bears watching as they continue to struggle to open the season, but there's a decent chance they could end up blowing things up at the deadline.
If they do, one player the Clippers should look into adding is Coby White. White's role has decreased for the second straight season in Chicago, and he's never seemed to truly fit into their squad. White's name has floated around in trade rumors for quite some time, and even if the Bulls don't end up blowing up their roster, they could still conceivably move on from White.
White hasn't exactly played well when he's been on the court (7.6 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 1.9 APG, 40.6 FG%, 32.6 3P%) which partly justifies his shrinking role in the Bulls offense. But he has a ton of potential, and if the Bulls aren't going to give him minutes, there are guard-needy teams that would gladly add him to their rotation in hopes of helping him reach that potential.
The Clippers have been getting inconsistent production from Reggie Jackson and John Wall at point guard, which makes exploring a trade for White a worthwhile cause for L.A. White has proven to be a strong scorer when he gets into a rhythm, and while he hasn't reached his potential yet, he was the seventh overall pick of the 2020 NBA Draft, so it's clear that there is still a lot of untapped potential there.
White hasn't panned out with the Bulls, but that doesn't mean his career is over. He would join a Clippers team that would likely have minutes available for him right away, and who knows, maybe he would develop into a solid contributor off the bench for them. Los Angeles definitely should look into reinforcing their guard depth, though, which makes a potential move for White very beneficial for them.
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