- Center Ivica Zubac has been playing an important role during the Clippers‘ surge up the standings, per Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. The eight-year veteran is averaging career highs in multiple categories this season and has formed a strong two-man game on offense with James Harden while anchoring the paint defensively. “I knew I could play in that pocket, that I could be a roll man on offense and defense,” said Zubac. “I’m confident in my game a lot, so I’ve always been confident. But right now, it’s at a high level.”
After Kawhi Leonard signed a three-year, $152MM extension with the Clippers on Wednesday, teammate Paul George expressed confidence that he’ll agree sooner or later to a new deal of his own that keeps him in Los Angeles beyond this season, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
“I mean, absolutely,” George said when he was asked if Leonard’s extension increases the chances of him signing his own contract. “You secure and lock in Kawhi. Definitely leaves the door open for myself, but very, very optimistic something will get done on my behalf, as well.”
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported on Wednesday in the wake of the Leonard news that the Clippers have been motivated to get both forwards locked up to longer-term contracts and that talks with George are ongoing. Asked later in the day about how close he and the Clippers are to finding common ground on an extension, George essentially confirmed Wojnarowski’s report.
“We’re working on it,” he said. “… I’m extremely excited and happy for Kawhi reaching a deal to hopefully make him a Clipper for the rest of his career. We’ll see my situation when we get there, but just happy they got the deal done on his end. I know he wants to stay here, myself as well. When my time comes, we’ll be ready for those conversations as well.”
Like Leonard, George has been affected by various injuries since he joined the Clippers in 2019 and didn’t appear in more than 56 regular season games in any of his first four years with the team. However, he has played in 35 of 37 contests so far this season and is performing at a high level, averaging 23.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.6 steals in 34.6 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .464/.414/.918.
George’s current contract situation is identical to the one Leonard was in before agreeing to his extension — he’s earning approximately $45.6MM this season and holds a $48.8MM player option for 2024/25. In order to sign an extension, George would have to decline that option, at which point he would be eligible to receive up to approximately $220MM over four years on his new deal.
Of course, Leonard accepted a three-year deal worth slightly below his maximum salary, and the two Clippers stars have essentially been on matching contracts since teaming up in Los Angeles, so it will be interesting to see if George’s next deal features terms similar to Kawhi’s. Leonard suggested on Wednesday that he feels good about the likelihood of both George and James Harden sticking with the Clippers beyond this season.
“With the conversation that I have with them about it, I think for the most part everybody is coming back,” Leonard said. “So with me signing an extension, I think it gives us a chance to sign both of those players.”
Harden won’t become extension-eligible prior to the expiration of his current contract, but the Clippers will hold his Bird rights this offseason.
Kawhi Leonard has been eligible for an extension for the past six months, and Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank never had any doubt that a deal would get done, writes Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. L.A. signed the star forward to a three-year, $152.4MM extension on Wednesday that will keep him under contract through the 2026/27 season.
“We knew this union was going to happen,” Frank told reporters before Wednesday’s game. “We both wanted it to happen and we came to an agreement.”
Frank added that there was “no hesitation” about making such a large commitment to a player with a long injury history who is in 30s. Leonard has dispelled some of those physical concerns this season by playing in the Clippers’ first 27 games and 32 of 36 overall. The team is 13-1 with him in the lineup since the start of December and he’s putting up All-Star numbers over that stretch, averaging 26.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.9 steals per night while shooting 57% from the field and 48% from long distance.
Lawrence added that Leonard’s willingness to accept less that the full amount he was eligible to receive — approximately $220MM over four years — will help the organization in upcoming negotiations with Paul George and James Harden.
“In order to win, you need to be able to have flexibility to have really good teammates,” Frank said. “And in order to do that, there’s sacrifices that need to be made. And what I love what I’ve heard from our guys, what Kawhi has shown is … we want everyone to be compensated fairly and yet also preserve flexibility to both in the short and long term have contending rosters.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Leonard’s extension with the Clippers includes a 15% trade kicker, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
- Coaches and players throughout the league are recognizing the job that Clippers coach Tyronn Lue has done in making all the pieces mesh after the early-season trade for Harden, per Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. Lue guided the team through a rough stretch after Harden arrived and found a way to build an effective offense around numerous players who are used to having the ball in their hands. “He was giving us confidence, he was telling us this is not going to last for a long time, that we’re going to figure out, figure out how we want to play both ways. (He kept saying) it’s going to happen, and he was the one that was preaching that from the start, and we trusted it,” Ivica Zubac said. “Now we’re playing at a high level, and everyone is really confident. We know what we want to do, and it’s been a big time for him.”
- Whenever Draymond Green resumes playing, he hopes to cut out the antics that have already led to two extended suspensions this season, relays Kendra Andrews of ESPN. Green addressed his behavior Tuesday at a news conference that marked his return to Warriors practice. “I’ve cost my team enough. I’ve cost this organization enough,” he said. Green will accompany the team on its upcoming trip and may return to action in one of the road games, Andrews tweets.
- Suns star Kevin Durant clarified that he intended “no ill will” when he said last month that he hopes Green “gets the help that he needs” following “incident after incident,” per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
1:00pm: Leonard’s new contract is a three-year extension worth $152.4MM, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links). The deal, which runs through 2026/27, doesn’t include a player option and comes in a little below Leonard’s maximum salary, Charania adds.
The precise value of Leonard’s maximum salary for next season won’t be known until the 2024/25 salary cap is set, but based on current projections, Leonard could have earned up to about $161MM on a three-year max extension; that figure could end up at nearly $170MM if the cap increases by the maximum 10%.
Leonard’s new deal will feature a salary in the $52MM range in year one before dipping to approximately $50MM for each of the next two seasons, per Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The cap would have to rise by more than 9% this summer for Kawhi’s max to get to $52MM — if it doesn’t, the first-year salary on his new deal will come in slightly lower than that.
The extension will make Leonard ineligible to be traded until July 10.
12:34pm: The Clippers have signed star forward Kawhi Leonard to a contract extension, the team announced today in a press release.
Prior to agreeing to a new deal, Leonard was eligible to reach unrestricted free agency this summer by turning down a $48.8MM player option for 2024/25. The terms of his extension aren’t yet known, but he had the ability to decline that option at any time up until June 30 and then add as many as four years to the final season of his current contract.
“We’re thrilled to continue our relationship with Kawhi,” president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said in a statement. “He is an elite player, a terrific partner and a relentless worker who knows how to win and makes it his first priority. He elevated our franchise from the moment he arrived. We feel fortunate that Kawhi chose to join the Clippers four years ago, and excited to keep building with him.”
Leonard, who signed with the Clippers in 2019 on the heels of leading the Raptors to a championship, has been hampered by injuries during his time in Los Angeles, appearing in no more than 57 regular season games in any of his first four years as a Clipper. He missed the entire 2021/22 season while recovering from an ACL tear that he sustained during the ’21 playoffs.
However, the 32-year-old has continued to perform at an All-NBA level when he’s healthy and has played in 32 of 36 Clippers games so far in his fifth season with the franchise, leading L.A. to a 23-13 record. Leonard has averaged 23.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.8 steals in 34.5 minutes per night in 2023/24, posting an elite shooting line of .516/.430/.871.
Entering the day, Leonard and Paul George were on identical contracts, with George also eligible to sign an extension of up to four years if he declines a $48.8MM player option for ’24/25.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link), the organization’s extension talks with George are ongoing, with the Clippers hoping to get both stars locked up to longer-term contracts as they prepare to move into their new arena later this year.
The Clippers won’t be able to extend James Harden‘s contract before he becomes an unrestricted free agent in the 2024 offseason, but if the rest of this season goes well, the team would presumably be looking to sign him to a new deal as well.
The Clippers lost their first six games after acquiring Harden on November 1, but have been on fire since then, winning 20 of their past 26 games to move up in the Western Conference standings from 12th place to fourth.
In need of a signature win to turn their season around, the Lakers hope they got it Sunday night against the cross-town Clippers, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Coming into yesterday’s game, the Lakers had been slumping badly, with just a 3-10 record since winning the in-season tournament. LeBron James, who sparked the victory with a game-high 25 points, said the team needs to move past the mistakes that have led to losing.
“Try to use this to try to catapult a little bit better play from us,” he said. “But it still doesn’t take away from the fact of how we’ve been playing like the last 11, 12 games. Tonight was a good start. Hopefully we can start from here and continue to build.”
The win should ease the pressure on Darvin Ham amid recent rumors that his security as Lakers’ head coach is starting to be shaky. Ham, who told reporters before the game that he doesn’t feel like he’s coaching for his job, was happy with how the team responded to adversity.
“Everybody contributed, competed at a very high level,” Ham said. “And I’m proud of them. Now the cat’s out the bag for this one, in terms of how we need to approach each and every game and everybody do it as a committee.”
There’s more from Los Angeles:
- Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said a minutes restriction is the reason Kawhi Leonard was pulled from the game with 2:47 remaining, McMenamin states in the same story. Leonard, who recently missed four games with a left hip contusion, didn’t return until there were 17 seconds left to play. “He was close to his minutes restriction, and we got a back-to-back tomorrow,” Lue explained. “We got five games in eight days, so my thought was we need him in the game [earlier in the fourth] because the game kind of got away from us a little bit. … He had to play his extended minutes early in the quarter instead of late in the quarter. So that’s on me as a decision that I made to get him in early to come back.”
- The Clippers have been on a roll lately, but James believes it’s more attributable to Lue’s guidance than the trade for James Harden, McMenamin adds. “Nah, it’s the T-Lue Clippers,” James said. “I know T-Lue very well. It don’t take T-Lue long to make sure s–t get right. It took him five games, and they’ve been cooking since.”
- The Lakers were boosted by the return of D’Angelo Russell, who was back on the court after missing three games with a bruised tailbone, per Khobi Price of The Orange County Register. Russell, who started 28 straight games before being moved to a reserve role, came off the bench again Sunday with 13 points and six assists. Russell left without talking to reporters, but Ham said his presence makes a difference. “Obviously, a guy that can orchestrate things, a guy that can stretch the floor, just his 3-point shooting ability and his ability to make shots,” Ham said. “You can’t have too much of that on your team. He definitely provides that.”
There was plenty of intrigue before the Clippers–Lakers game on Sunday night as Darvin Ham’s job status was a topic of conversation.
Ham has taken heavy criticism during the Lakers’ slide after winning the in-season tournament. A report from The Athletic claimed there was a “deepening disconnect” between Ham and his players over his frequent tinkering with the lineup and rotations. In response, Ham insisted he was “aligned” with owner Jeanie Buss and vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka.
Ham denied during the pregame press conference on Sunday that his job was on the line, Khobi Prince of the Orange County Register tweets.
“No, I don’t,” he said when asked whether he felt he was coaching for his job. “I feel like I’m coaching a hell of a franchise and it comes with the territory when you’re coaching in this business. I’ve seen a lot of coaches come and go, good ones, and some that have some bad circumstances around them. But in no way, shape or form do I feel that way.”
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue defended Ham, saying the criticism he’s been taking is “definitely unfair,” Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times tweets.
“It’s a long season. A lot of different things go on throughout the course of the season, a lot of changing parts,” Lue said. “And we said the same thing last year when they were 2-10 and they went to the conference finals and so are you giving the coach all the credit for that? I don’t think so. And I think D-Ham did a hell of a job last year by doing that. And the same thing this year. They got a lot of injuries, a lot of different rotations, a lot of starting lineups and it’s hard.”
The Lakers entered the game with a 17-19 record and a four-game losing streak.
- The Clippers are crediting continuity for their recent success, according to Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. L.A. has seen several seasons short circuited by injuries, and Greif notes that the current starting five reached a milestone Friday with 265 minutes together, which marks the most of any Clippers lineup since the team acquired Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in the summer of 2019. “As a guy who’s been here that whole time and been a starter the whole time, it’s been very frustrating,” Ivica Zubac said. “I thought a lot about my love for the basketball in those four years and I can really tell you, I can say I like this game a lot because I was tested a lot. … It just shows when we’re healthy, we’re a great team.”
- The Clippers and Lakers are rapidly heading in opposite directions as they prepare for Sunday’s showdown, notes Khobi Price of The Orange County Register. Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell has been upgraded to questionable and could return after missing the last three games with a bruised tailbone, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
After losing their first six games following the acquisition of James Harden, the Clippers have since won 18 of 23, including the last four in a row, to improve their record to 21-12. With the team firing on all cylinders, it hasn’t been lost on Harden that the critics who were decrying his fit in early November have been quiet as of late.
“Fit is great, I knew that from the beginning and it’s one of the reasons why I wanted to be a part of this,” Harden said, per Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. “Obviously it didn’t start off well. It gave people so much to talk about in a negative way, and now those people that were talking are nowhere to be found. Like, literally nowhere to be found. Which, we knew that was going to happen.”
Viewed as a title threat when Kawhi Leonard and Paul George teamed up in Los Angeles in 2019, the Clippers have won just three playoff series in the past four seasons as Leonard and George both dealt with injuries. But with the two forwards healthy this season and Harden bringing a new element to the roster, they’re looking like a legitimate contender again.
Asked by Melissa Rohlin of FOX Sports what winning a championship would mean for his legacy, Harden said it would be “very important.”
“It’s been like that. I always want to give myself a chance to win. I know how very difficult that is,” Harden said. “There’s only one team standing at the end of the year. So, I’ll continue to keep trying to do that.”
Here’s more on the NBA’s two Los Angeles teams:
- Clippers two-way center Moussa Diabate, who was hampered in December by a hip issue, appeared in his first NBA game in over a month on Monday, logging three garbage-time minutes in a victory over Miami. However, it sounds like he won’t play again for a while — the team announced that Diabate, who had six blocks in a G League game on Tuesday, is out due to a metacarpal fracture in his right hand, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. The club has yet to provide a recovery timeline.
- With the Lakers slumping, Mirjam Swanson of The Southern California News Group wonders why the team hasn’t turned to the lineups that were successful last season, including either Jarred Vanderbilt or Rui Hachimura alongside Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Austin Reaves, and D’Angelo Russell. Injuries have been a problem, but the club hasn’t used either of those lineups even when everyone has been available — those two groups have played just three total minutes together in 2023/24, says Swanson.
- While head coach Darvin Ham is clearly facing pressure to turn the Lakers‘ season around, a “high-ranking” team source disputed the idea that he’s on the verge of being fired, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic. Amick adds that assistant Phil Handy is frequently brought up as the possible next man up if the Lakers do eventually decide to make an in-season coaching change.
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla and Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue have been named the Coaches of the Month for December, the NBA announced (via Twitter).
Mazzulla, the Eastern Conference winner, led Boston to a 12-2 record last month. The Celtics have the best record in the NBA at 26-7.
While Mazzulla’s group has looked like a championship contender throughout its first 33 games, Lue’s Clippers had a rocky start after trading for James Harden, losing six straight at one point to hold a 3-7 record.
But L.A. has had an impressive turnaround over the past several weeks, going 18-5 over the past 23 games, including an 11-2 record in December. Harden shook off some early rust and has been playing at an extremely high level of late (20.1 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 9.4 APG, 1.4 SPG and 1.2 BPG on .483/.467/.883 shooting over the past 17 contests), and Kawhi Leonard has been dominant on both ends of the court.
According to the NBA (Twitter link), the other nominees in the Eastern Conference were J.B. Bickerstaff, Adrian Griffin, Nick Nurse and Erik Spoelstra, while Mark Daigneault, Chris Finch and Michael Malone were nominated in the West.
- Clippers center Mason Plumlee was active on Monday for the first time since going down with an MCL sprain on November 6, but he didn’t see any action, as Janis Carr of The Orange County Register writes. “He is available, but we still want to make sure we are doing the right thing and making sure that we’re taking the slow (road) and ease him back in,” head coach Tyronn Lue explained. Fellow reserve center Daniel Theis said he hasn’t been told by the coaching staff how his role will be affected by Plumlee’s return.
- With the Clippers healthier this year than in recent seasons, Norman Powell is averaging just 25.6 minutes per game off the bench, his lowest mark since 2018/19. However, the veteran wing says he’s willing to sacrifice some playing time and accept a reduced role if it’s the right move for the team as a whole, per Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. “This year with the way the team is constructed and the moves that we made, I’ve been taking a step back and not being so upset that my role isn’t going to be where I would like it to be, or where I want it to be or how I view myself, and accepting how the team is built, what the team is looking for and what we have to do to win,” Powell said.