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The Los Angeles Clippers made a free agency splash on Monday afternoon by acquiring Bradley Beal, who had been previously bought out of his mammoth contract by the Phoenix Suns. ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania reported that it would be a two-year, $11 million deal for Beal to take his talents to the City of Angels, marking the third team he will have played for in his career.
The free agency signing fills up a void at shooting guard for the Clippers that was opened up once Norman Powell departed for the Miami Heat as part of a three team trade.
Some Clippers fans feel as though the former All-Star Beal will be able to replace if not improve upon what Powell was able to provide for the team, but not everyone is so sure about that.
Recently, Zach Kram of ESPN took to X, formerly Twitter, to display a chart of the career DARKO DPM for both Beal and Powell, with Powell's portion of the graph significantly outpacing Beal's last season.
DARKO DPM is a statistical model that uses both box score and plus-minus data to more accurately measure a player's overall impact.
“I don't understand the sentiment I've seen on here that Bradley Beal is an upgrade over Norm Powell at this stage of their careers,” wrote Kram on X.
Did the Clippers upgrade?
It's important to note that the Clippers didn't simply replace Powell with Beal as a one-for-one exchange. As part of the Powell deal, Los Angeles brought in former Utah Jazz power forward John Collins, an athletic big man who can stretch the floor and has improved defensively throughout his career.
That, combined with the addition of Beal, may very well make it so that the Clippers improved their overall output this offseason.
However, as is so often the case, any real chance of competing for the Clippers will rest on the health of Kawhi Leonard, which was relatively stable this past season but is always a major wild card dating back to his time with the San Antonio Spurs.
