Since the Clippers have been hammered with one of the most extreme punishments in NBA history, there have been a lot of questions around the team’s infrastructure and its future. The assumption and reporting have indicated that the Kawhi Leonard trade is still on track to be completed as initially agreed, yet there has been no movement on that front.
Perhaps we now know a little of the backstory behind the delay, as Jake Fischer and Marc Stein are reporting that a major reason for the delay is that the Clippers are still sorting out the structure of their new front office now that majority owner and Governor Steve Ballmer and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank have both been suspended by the league.
From the outside, there has definitely been some mystery about who will run the team now, and apparently those mysteries remain unsolved on the inside as well. The Clippers don’t seem to fully know how the franchise is going to operate over the next season, and now it’s officially holding up some of the team’s business involving the roster and its assets.
That’s certainly concerning for an NBA franchise that is already in major turmoil. But it’s great news for anyone who's invested in their demise, much like your very own Boston Celtics, who own the rights to a lucrative 2028 pick swap with the Clippers from the Jaylen Brown-Paul George trade.
The Clippers' 2028 pick swap is looking better by the day
As long as the Clippers aren’t able to drastically improve their roster over the next year and a half, their team is likely in big trouble, and that means they’ll be handing a premium draft pick to the Celtics. The only realistic path to them avoiding that outcome would be for them to make some major moves for immediate upgrades.
Given the fact that they don’t even seem to know who’s calling the shots and they are struggling to complete a trade that was agreed upon months ago, as a Celtics fan, I feel pretty good about them not being able to pull off some massive heist to suddenly make the team a contender any time soon.
It’s plain to see that the Clippers are in big trouble, but we may not even grasp the full scope of how ugly things could get. The five lost first-round picks were obviously the headliner, but with most of the key decision-makers also being suspended, they are going to have a very hard time managing what limited assets they have in the meantime.
This rebuild is going to take a lot longer than two years, and that’s a very good thing for the Celtics, whose newest draft pick is looking better by the day.
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