Words that did not belong in the same sentence until Wednesday: Bradley Beal and bargain. Bradley Beal and cheap. Bradley Beal and incredible deal.
But now, no matter how you look at it, how you waive and stretch it, Beal is a steal – for the Clippers.
They’ve reportedly agreed to sign the three-time All-Star who has averaged 21.5 points, 4.3 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game in his career. A shooting guard who has shot 37.6% from 3-point range in 13 NBA seasons to insert in place of Norman Powell, the guard they gave up in the three-team trade that brought over power forward John Collins, who had long been on the Clippers’ wish list.
And they’ll be getting Beal – once he clears waivers – for the low-low price of two years for $11 million, or $5.35 this season, according to ESPN.
Everyone else involved in this agreement? Shall we say they’re not making out quite like those bandit Clippers.
Beal – who has made more than $318 million so far – reportedly will be giving back $13.9 million, or $2.9 million more than the Clippers will pay him. Imagine having made so much money or being so unfulfilled in a job that you would forfeit literal millions to take a new gig. Or maybe both, in Beal’s case.
And imagine wanting to rid your roster of a player and his massive deal so badly that you’d pay him $19.4 million per year for the next five years to play for another team in the same conference, as the Phoenix Suns have agreed to. What can we say? The second apron strikes again; teams will pay a fortune for flexibility.
Once again, Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank and his team of big-game bargain hunters are among this offseason’s big winners. And these days I’m not sure that doesn’t matter almost as much as being actual winners. The public seems so tuned-in to roster construction and ready to tune out for the games.
So let’s lean into it: On paper, the Clippers look formidable. The team that won 50 regular-season games last season, that’s led by Coach Tyronn Lue and his stalwart staff, that pushed the Denver Nuggets to a seventh game in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs – it’s more talented now.
On paper, the Clippers look tough. They have more ball-handling with Beal, who also provides the scoring to replace Powell’s pop. And there’s more defense around the rim with Collins and Brook Lopez – who both give the Clippers different looks and sudden depth around the basket that they haven’t had since Isaiah Hartenstein was around in 2021-22, hanging in Ivica Zubac’s shadow.
On paper, they look like they could be contenders. Starting for the Clippers: James Harden and Beal in the backcourt, plus two-time NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard, Collins and Zubac. And that quintet has a quintet of proven role players to back them up: Kris Dunn, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Derrick Jones Jr., Nicolas Batum and Lopez.
On paper, the Clippers look good.
But the Clippers have scored well on paper before.
Remember 2019-20, the beginning of the 213 Era, when the Clippers were odds-on favorites to win the championship and people were talking about George and Leonard as possibly the greatest wing duo ever? Recall the coronation that was being planned for a project that never even sniffed the finish line, before the Clippers let George walk last summer in exchange for nothing but that much-coveted flexibility?
Or remember the Lakers’ lineup in 2021-22, when they built a team that was a who’s who of recognizable veterans to play alongside LeBron James, darn-near ageless, but 37 that year. Carmelo Anthony came aboard, with Dwight Howard, Trevor Ariza, DeAndre Jordan and Rajon Rondo, a bunch of guys with a whole bunch of experience – none of them with fewer than 15 seasons in the league. Plus, yes, Russell Westbrook, then in Year 13.
It was a squad strong on name power and … well, name power. And short on youth. And, eventually, on wins, finishing 33-49 and 11th in the Western Conference.
And, on paper, these Clippers look old.
At a time when youth is winning the day, the Clippers are trying it the other way. At least for now, at least until their partnership with Leonard – under contract until July 2027 – expires.
The Thunder team that just won the NBA championship went into last season as the youngest in the league, at 24.148 years of age. And the Indiana team it faced in the Finals? The Pacers set out with players whose average age was just 25.263 years.
Meanwhile, the Clippers entered last season with the NBA’s third-oldest roster, at 27.358 years old. Now, in addition to the 32-year-old Beal, they’ve brought aboard the 37-year-old Lopez to play alongside the 35-year-old Harden and 34-year-old Leonard. And they haven’t even yet added 40-year-old Chris Paul, once the leader of those star-crossed Lob City teams who is rumored to be plotting a return on a veteran minimum contract.
So, absolutely, on paper, the Clippers look promising, like they could have a puncher’s chance in what was a closely contested conference last season.
But the question that will be worth most on the final exam, kids, wasn’t whether they could make the math work on another reclamation venture in the offseason. It’s whether they’ll be able to keep Kawhi and all those old guys on the court during the basketball season?
Leonard, recall, didn’t start playing last season until Game 35 because of what the team characterized as “right knee injury recovery.” Meanwhile, over in Phoenix, Beal averaged 17 points in 53 games, but he missed many others with aches and pains in his elbow, calf, knee, hip, ankle, toe and hamstring.
Let’s say the Clippers can keep the injury bug at bay – there are more questions: Can this smartly assembled squad of seasoned veterans keep up with opponents’ spry stars so many years their junior? Can they defend them? Will they outsmart them? And, ultimately, can they give the Clippers the utmost bang for their buck?
That’s something to work out when the actual basketball begins, though.
For now, it’s summertime and the Clippers are winning.