Norman Powell is looking forward to a fresh start with the Clippers after suffering a left foot fracture shortly after being acquired in a February trade, writes David Yapkowitz of 213 Hoops. Powell played just three games before the injury, then returned for two games late in the season and two more in the play-in tournament. He said it was difficult trying to adapt to a new team without being on the court.
“It’s kind of a tough hill to climb on, only playing for three games and then coming back for the playoffs, it’s tough,” Powell said. “I really didn’t get a full chance to show what I bring to the table, just a little bit of a spark there.”
The Clippers envision Powell as a complementary scorer when Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are both healthy and as someone who can carry the offense when they’re not on the court. After winning a title with the Raptors in 2019, Powell believes he’s on another team that can reach that level.
“We got nine, 10 guys that can be starters on other teams and to have them all on one team is really big especially throughout the course of the season,” he said. “We showed last year that with injuries and things, guys can step up and play big minutes, but if everybody is healthy, it’s a real good shot to have a championship.”
There’s more NBA news from Los Angeles:
- The Clippers and Trail Blazers will play a preseason contest October 3 in Seattle, marking the first time the former NBA city has hosted a game since 2018. The location was the idea of head coaches and longtime friends Tyronn Lue and Chauncey Billups, who both have team owners with ties to the Seattle area, according to Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times.
- LeBron James‘ new extension will put the Lakers in a tight financial situation over the next two years, says Bobby Marks of ESPN (video link). If Talen Horton-Tucker and Damian Jones both pick up their player options for the 2023/24 season, the team will have just $22MM in cap space with only five players under contract. If the Lakers keep next year’s first-round pick, that number could fall to about $19MM (depending on where exactly the pick lands), which isn’t nearly enough to sign a high-level free agent.
- Jovan Buha of The Athletic analyzes the Lakers‘ schedule, which is loaded with tough games early in the season.
$19M is more than enough to sign a high level free agent. That would prob buy them Collin Sexton if they had that to spend now. Hawks went from not even making it to the Orlando bubble to being a top4 team in the league largely bc we signed Bogdan for right around $19M. Vooch might be lured back to LA for around that much depending on how things work out for him this season. Jerami Grant, Christian Wood & Caris LeVert all prob be available for somewhere around that $ as well
So they going to play with 6 players ? If all goes down with what they said they have 5 guys plus 6 if you use most of not all with one guy. They need 13 players at least to fill league min
Lol wha? Who (except you ofc) said anything about them playing with 6 players? I’m pretty sure that’s a technical foul
You said $19 mil is more than enough to sign a high level someone…proceeded to list someones who could be had. The post says they will have that cap space with only 5 players signed. So while you didn’t say anything about 6 players, the technical foul may be in the mathing
They probably could have Vuc right now for AD straight up, with some salary match thrown in.
Rim protection is gonna be an issue for LAC but other than that (& durability concerns) they should be a strong 50-60W candidate this season
Kyrie Irving wants money more than rings
Let’s say Lakers give him 20 million and 10% chance of rings
Another 50-win team with zero chance of rings gives him $200 million contract
He has zero chance of a ring w/ the Lakers so……
Hmmm