The Clippers, in all likelihood, won’t be making any notable moves on draft night.
The Los Angeles Clippers are a notoriously move-heavy team when it comes to the NBA Draft. There’s always something they tend to have up their sleeves that unveils itself while names get read aloud from the dais as prospects achieve their dream of making it to the most prestigious basketball league in the world.
However, according to Andrew Greif, Clippers’ staff writer for the L.A. Times, that doesn’t appear to be the case this year (emphasis mine):
The Clippers do not possess a first-round pick; Oklahoma City controls the team’s selection because of the 2019 trade to acquire Paul George. What they do have is the 43rd overall pick, and league observers have described the team as uninterested to trade out of the draft altogether, while also not appearing driven — at the moment, anyway — to move up.
This is perhaps a tad stunning considering the team’s recent track record of always seeming to do something — anything — on draft night. But it also makes some sense in that the Clippers are pretty stocked as far as roster spots are concerned, and adding more players into that logjam could create other issues as far as finding new homes for a couple of them.
While a lot has been made about the Clippers’ need for a backup point guard, the lack of bona fide prospects at that position in this draft make it a tad murky to discern where the Clippers might be leaning.
However, Greif does mention that some decision makers around the league think the Clippers could be leaning towards other positions than guard (emphasis mine):
The Clippers’ roster is already loaded with wings, and combined with the belief the Clippers are pursuing a veteran point guard this offseason, and a point guard draft class described as not particularly deep, some league observers believe the Clippers could end up with a forward or center.
The Clippers have not had much success drafting centers since they selected DeAndre Jordan with the 35th overall pick way back in 2008. In the meantime, they’ve swung and missed on big men such as Brice Johnson, Daniel Oturu, Mfiondu Kabengele and Trey Thompkins.
As for the types of players that the Clippers could potentially be looking at on Thursday, that could make itself known based on who the team has actually had in the facility for draft workouts. Since the Clippers do not make draft workout lists publicly available, it behooves oneself to parse through Twitter searches and Instagram stories in order to attain the information.
The following players have reportedly been in the practice facility for workouts:
- JaVante McCoy (Boston University)
- Collin Gillespie (Villanova)
- Terrell Brown-Soares (San Diego)
- Christian Braun (Kansas)
- Izaiah Brockington (Iowa State)
- Jalen Williams (Santa Clara)
- Jared Rhoden (Seton Hall)
- Alondes Williams (Wake Forest)
- Keve Aluma (Virginia Tech)
- Lucas Williamson (Loyola Chicago)
- Dereon Seabron (N.C. State)
- Buddy Boeheim (Syracuse)
- Taze Moore (Houston)
- Darius Days (LSU)
- Nysier Brooks (Ole Miss)
- Gui Santos (Minas – Brazil)
- Aleksander Balcerowski (Mega Basket – Poland)
- Alonzo Verge Jr. (Nebraska)
- Kai Sotto (Adelaide 36ers – Philippines)
- Eli Scott (Loyola Marymount)
The list consists of guards, forwards and centers. The Clippers are leaving no stone unturned during the draft process as they look to potentially find an impactful player, either for this upcoming season or future ones. Los Angeles has enjoyed recent success in the second round, most notably with Terance Mann.
The 2022 NBA Draft kicks off Thursday night (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Coverage will be on ESPN.