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The LA Clippers have enjoyed one of the most successful offseason in recent history, signing Kawhi Leonard, trading for Paul George, and filling out out their roster with multiple veterans capable of competing at the highest level. Doc Rivers' team caught the league's imagination as a gritty underdog during the first round of the playoffs; less than three months later, it's a leading championship contender not just for 2019-20, but perhaps the foreseeable future, too.
Even so, the revamped Clippers don't quite stand atop basketball's current hierarchy, at least in the eyes of ESPN. Los Angeles ranks third in the worldwide leader's current power rankings, behind the Milwaukee Bucks and Denver Nuggets. The top 10 is rounded out by the Philadelphia 76ers, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz, and Toronto Raptors.
It's a testament to the Clippers' talent level they rank so high in the rankings despite a lack of continuity at the top of the roster. The Bucks and Nuggets were two of the league's best teams last season, and are bringing back most every key contributor – with the exception of Malcom Brogdon for Milwaukee – for a title run. Every other team in the top third of ESPN's power rankings will have to coalesce on the fly next season after perhaps the most significant summer in terms of player movement ever.
The Larry O'Brien Trophy, for the first time in nearly a decade, seems truly up for grabs in 2019-20, and the Clippers have as good a chance as anyone to be hoisting it at season's end.
