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The Los Angeles Clippers have had a busy last week of the NBA offseason, signing free agents Chris Paul and Bradley Beal to team-friendly deals ahead of the 2025-26 campaign. It's all part of a larger effort from the Clippers to give one last big push in the Kawhi Leonard era by assembling an Avengers-like squad of mid-2010s All-Stars.
There was some question when the Paul news was announced as to which player would get which jersey number, as Paul and Beal both wear number three.
However, Beal reportedly made that decision an easy one.
“Chris Paul will wear jersey No. 3 and Bradley Beal is still determining what number he’ll wear,” reported Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints on X, formerly Twitter. “Lawrence Frank said Bradley Beal offered to give it to him as soon as CP3 to LAC was a reality.”
It's a classy gesture from Beal that will hopefully be a sign of things to come for the Clippers in terms of camaraderie.
Can the Clippers compete?
On paper, the Clippers have as many “big name” players as any team in the league.
The problem is that many of them are either past their prime, massive injury risks, or both. However, if the Clippers are able to miraculously stay mostly healthy for the majority of the 2025-26 season, they certainly have an interesting collection of talent.
Some fans were befuddled when the Clippers sent out Norman Powell in a three-team trade that brought them former Utah Jazz power forward John Collins; however, Los Angeles filled their void at shooting guard by signing Beal in free agency, and now have considerable depth at every position on the floor.
It will be interesting to see which direction head coach Ty Lue chooses to go in terms of his lineups. Beal and James Harden would certainly be a tough backcourt to defend against, but they likely wouldn't get a ton of stops in their own right. Lue could opt to go with last year's defensive ace Kris Dunn alongside Harden, while letting Beal and Chris Paul run the bench unit alongside veterans like Bogdan Bogdanovic.
Whatever direction the Clippers choose to go, they'll certainly be an interesting team to watch next year.
