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Clippers 2024-2025 Player Preview: Ivica Zubac
Our player preview series for the 2025 Clippers continues with Ivica Zubac, their longest tenured player and starting center.
Basic Information
Height: 7’0
Weight: 240 pounds
Position: Center
Age: 27
Years in NBA: 8
Regular Season Stats: 11.7 points, 9.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.3 steals, and 1.2 blocks in 26.4 minutes per game across 68 games played (all starts) on 64.9/72.3 shooting splits with 67.1% TS
Playoff Stats: 16.2 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.5 blocks in 32.0 minutes per game across 6 games played (all starts) on 60/65 shooting splits with 61.5% TS
Contract Status: Making $11.7M this year, signed a 3 year $59M extension this past summer
Expectations
Ivica Zubac is going to be in the role he’s been in for most
of his five-plus-year Clippers’ tenure – the team’s starting center. However,
things are different this year. Paul George is gone. So is Russell Westbrook. Kawhi
Leonard is injured and will be on a load management plan. The Clippers’
offseason additions were largely defense-first players. All of that means that
while Zu will still be the Clippers’ starting center, he will almost certainly
have a larger role on offense than he’s ever had previously, namely as someone the
Clippers will use to actively get buckets. That’s a lot for Zu, as the Clippers
are as small as ever, meaning he will still have huge responsibility on defense
and on the glass. Thus, this season is primed to be the biggest year of Zu’s
career, maybe by a lot.
Strengths
Zu’s best strengths are that he’s good at everything big men have needed to do since the sport of basketball was invented. He’s a solid defensive rebounder, an excellent finisher inside the paint, and one of the better rim protectors in the NBA. His ability to finish strong around the rim is a tremendous asset, and his little jump hook is incredibly reliable (he shot 71.1% at the rim and 59.9% from 3-10 feet last year). Add it all up, and you have a reliable big man who contributes on both ends without taking anything major away.
Zu is not quite as great an offensive rebounder as he was a few years ago, but he’s still one of the better second-chance players in the NBA. He has an offensive rebound rate of about 12.8%, an excellent number, and is able to crash the offensive glass while still consistently getting back in transition. For a team that does not send wings to the offensive glass much, Zu’s ability to be a force on that end single-handedly is a real boon.
There are other, more subtle pluses as well. Zu sets awesome, hard screens that really free up the Clippers’ ballhandlers. When he doesn’t play, that drop-off in screen setting is always notable. While not a great passer, Zu has gotten better over the years at making the extra play and finding open guys.
Weaknesses
Zu’s biggest weakness is that while he’s an effective offensive player, he’s also a limited one. Zu does not take threes (1/12 in his entire career), does not shoot from even the midrange, and is not an advanced passer. That’s all totally fine for non-star big men, of course, as few bigs can do all of those things well, but those limitations are why Zu is a solid starter instead of a star despite being very good at all traditional big man duties.
On defense, Zu is not awesome at defending out on the perimeter (though he is not as bad as a lot of bigs), meaning the Clippers’ defensive schemes can’t feature him switching too frequently. Again, not a huge deal, but something that the Clippers have to plan around.
Finally, even though Zu is highly likable and by all accounts a great teammate and locker room presence, he can get a bit down when the going gets tough. That’s not to say he ever gives up or stops trying, but he can get frustrated in those situations, and that sort of attitude has been challenging to watch at times.
Summary
The Clippers’ signing Zu to his max extension this summer
was a strong vote of confidence in the veteran. While Zu is certainly not
untradable, the Clippers have no replacement at all for Zu in the wings, so
trading him is unlikely barring a complete teardown (which seems unlikely in
and of itself). Thus, he’s one of the least likely players on the roster to get
moved – a good, likable, player on a very fair deal who is a proven fit with
the teams’ stars and is appreciated by everyone in the organization. It’s
certainly not a lock that Zu finishes his extension with the Clippers, but he
seems very likely to be on the Clippers for this entire upcoming season.