The Los Angeles Clippers may look like a completely different team than they did prior to the trade deadline, but Brian Shaw believes that's a good thing.
Shaw is best known for his long playing career, which included winning three championships with the Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant-led Los Angeles Lakers. The 59-year-old has since enjoyed a successful coaching career since retiring, serving as a Lakers assistant on two different occasions. He has been an assistant for the Clippers since 2021.
The Clippers have obviously had a difficult time enjoying postseason success in recent years despite being loaded with star power. In prior years, they had the Kawhi Leonard-Paul George pairing and more recently they had James Harden and Russell Westbrook. However, they haven't advanced past the first round since Shaw's arrival.
Los Angeles made a major move at the trade deadline, unloading 36-year-old star guard, Harden, for 26-year-old guard Darius Garland in a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Clippers entered the season with the oldest roster in the NBA at 30.7 years old. However, they are now significantly younger, something that Shaw believes will benefit the team as they look to make a postseason run.
Los Angeles is currently ranked 10th in the Western Conference and playing for a play-in spot. Shaw talked about what Garland brings to the table.
“Darius can guess who you know. I coached Darius with Nike Hoop Academy when he was in high school and just his quickness, his basketball IQ, he's a great passer, and he can score. We have players on our team that will benefit from him, being able to set the table for him, for them, but as well as just upping the youth and the quickness that we have overall.
“We started out this season as the oldest team in the NBA history,” Shaw continued to say. “When you look at the fact that we started with Chris Paul and James Harden, so we had a pretty old team. We were pretty slow, so now we feel like we can compete with these younger, faster, more athletic teams that are out there.”
Garland is one of the better, more established young guards in the league. The former fifth overall pick is a two-time All-Star selection and has averaged 18.0 points and 6.9 assists per game this season.
The 26-year-old is still recovering from a right toe sprain injury and has yet to make his Clippers debut. With that being said, Garland — along with Leonard — have an opportunity to lead the Clippers back into the playoffs. They've been a pretty solid team as of late, with Los Angeles going 20-6 since December 20.
