LAS VEGAS, NV — The Los Angeles Clippers took one final step towards solifying their opening night roster for the 2024-25 NBA season on Thursday when they finalized an agreement to trade Russell Westbrook to the Utah Jazz for Kris Dunn.
As part of the sign-and-trade agreement, Kris Dunn is signing a three-year deal worth $17 million. That should solidify what will be the Clippers roster heading into the 2024-25 NBA season.
Russell Westbrook Trade
As the NBA's Summer League began, the Clippers had two remaining objectives: Find a trade partner for Russell Westbrook in a deal that would bring back Kris Dunn in a sign-and trade. The other was to find a taker for PJ Tucker.
Westbrook picked up his player option for the 2024-25 season despite knowing that the Clippers were not interested in retaining his services, league sources told ClutchPoints. It's unclear whether Westbrook was aware of the interest by the Denver Nuggets at the time, but opting in guaranteed him money heading into next season, which is 100 percent the right decision as a player.
The Clippers, however, immediately began looking at trade packages that would help them land Dunn while also not ridding themselves of any assets in the process. When trade talks initially began, the Jazz were willing to help facilitate a trade to get Kris Dunn to his desired spot, but were unwilling to take on Westbrook's deal.
After weeks of searching for a third team to take on Westbrook's deal with the idea of waiving him to hit free agency, the Clippers were able to entice Utah to make the one-for-one deal by adding in a second round pick swap as well as cash to make up for having to waive him.
According to The Athletic's Tony Jones, the second round pick swap will be for the year 2030.
The Clippers and Westbrook's representation had been working on deals over the last few weeks, and Russell's intentions were always to end up joining Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets once he cleared waivers. He'll have the chance to officially do so in a couple of days.
PJ Tucker's Future
All the Clippers have left now is what to do with PJ Tucker.
Tucker, who has had a fine NBA career and won an NBA Championship with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021, is way past his prime. He believes he's still able to contribute on a championship contending team, and after seeing him outscore Paul George in the second half of an elimination Game 6 against the Mavs, maybe that's true.
But after being given opportunities by Tyronn Lue and the team, he proved to be inconsequential. Tucker opted into the final year of his deal, which is set to pay him $11.5 million. Now, the Clippers have a number of options they can consider.
The Clippers can waive and stretch his deal, which would mean he'd be a $3 million cap hit every year over the next three years. They can also just waive him outright and be done with the deal entirely after this season. A buyout is also something the Clippers would consider, but Tucker himself told ClutchPoints multiple times that a buyout is not on the table for him. Lastly, they can find a trade partner for him — a championship contender convinced they could use him — but even that seems like a long shot considering the assets they would need to include to move off of his deal.
At this stage, it remains unclear what happens with Tucker. The team could certainly use his roster spot going into the season, whether it be for a future player or a guy like Jordan Miller, who is having an exceptional Summer League in Las Vegas thus far.
Beyond that, the Clippers roster, however, looks pretty much set. There were rumblings about the team potentially adding Tyus Jones to the roster via a sign-and-trade, but league sources told ClutchPoints that the Clippers were not a strong destination for Jones, with the team focused on acquiring Kris Dunn in a sign-and-trade.
There have also been reports linking the Clippers to Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine, but sources have told ClutchPoints the reported interest has not been coming from the LA Clippers' side. Additionally, the team is hard-capped at the first apron with this sign-and-trade of Dunn.
President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank essentially confirmed that when speaking with members of the media earlier this week, stating that the Clippers were not going to make a, ‘reckless,' move that would impact their long-term flexibility in an attempt to find an immediate third scorer.
“In terms of being opportunistic via trades, we'll always look out for that,” Lawrence Frank said. “So I think we're going to be highly competitive in the short term while looking for opportunities get better and also we want to maintain some flexibility in the longterm. For that sustainability, we're not going to all of a sudden say, ‘okay Paul's out, let's go run and do something that maybe doesn't fit within the big picture that could be reckless.' We're not going to do that at the expense of trying to find a third scorer. Team building for each team is going to be different with this new CBA, the ages of your best players and what they're making impacts what you do. So we'll look at everything, but we're not going to be reckless if it really sacrifices future flexibility going forward because I think we're going to be very good in the short term and we're also going to have flexibility in the long term to make this a sustainable organization that's always in pursuit of winning championships.”
Now that they have their guy, the roster is just about set for the 2024-25 season.
The Clippers Expected Roster For The 2024-25 Season
James Harden will start at point guard with Kris Dunn backing him up. Between the strong playmaking and scoring punch that Harden provides as well as the defensive versatility that Dunn will bring, the Clippers have a strong point guard tandem.
After being named a starter last year, Terance Mann is expected to retain that position on opening night with Norman Powell backing him up. The Clippers and Mann's camp have initiated extension talks, but there's no timeline on that getting done. Essentially a home-grown talent, another strong year should be in store for Terance Mann. Meanwhile, Norman Powell's scoring is going to be even more vital this year with Paul George out of the picture. Powell, who took on more of a catch-and-shoot role last year once James Harden arrived, is expected to have much heavier on-ball usage next year.
Derrick Jones Jr. fresh off of a strong playoff run with the Dallas Mavericks, is expected to start as well with Amir Coffey backing him up. Jones Jr. made it a point to say he was the number one on-ball defender last year, and he'll take on the nightly challenge of defending the opposing team's best players. Amir Coffey had a strong year last year, but struggled in the playoffs. He'll look to make another jump for the Clippers.
Kawhi Leonard, despite reports that he was not fond of starting at the power forward slot, will be back in that role again to start next season. Leonard is expected to be healthy and available at the start of training camp. With Leonard's return also comes the return of Nicolas Batum and his ‘Batum Batallion.' Batum will slot in as the backup power forward, spacing the floor out and occasionally taking on strong defensive matchups to help relieve Leonard of the two-way workload over an 82-game season.
Finally, Ivica Zubac will start at center and should be a much more featured player in the Clippers offense. Last season, Zubac averaged a career high 11.7 points on 64.9 percent shooting to go along with his 9.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.2 blocks per game. He's another guy the Clippers are in extension talks with and another guy the Clippers feel is a home-grown talent, so a big year is in store for Zubac as well. Mo Bamba, who is coming off a solid year with the Philadelphia 76ers, is expected to be the backup center for the Clippers next season. He shot 49 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from three while averaging 1.1 blocks in just 13 minutes a game last season.
In addition to those 10 players, the Clippers will also have Kevin Porter Jr. and Bones Hyland on the roster, but it's unclear what their futures look like at the moment. Kobe Brown, Moussa Diabate, Jordan Miller, and Cam Christie will round out the roster. There's a potential path to playing time for guys like Brown or Diabate, especially with the glaring need for youth and athleticism, but it's far too early to tell what that will look like right now.
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