The time of assessment has come for the Clippers and Lawrence Frank came out with almost the same speech as last year, namely that despite a new disappointment in the playoffs, and recurring injury concerns among his players major, the Californian franchise still believes in its project.
HAS Paul George et Kawhi Leonard have been added Russell Westbrookextended at least last summer, and James Harden. But this pretty quartet did not manage to get out of the first round after showing their capacity for nuisance in the regular season, the fault in particular of a new knee problem for Kawhi Leonard which (again) cost the Clippers dearly.
Paul George, the priority
When planning the objectives of an important offseason since the franchise moves to the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Lawrence Frank positioned himself on the extensions of Paul George and James Harden.
“We would like to be able to bring back and retain Paul and James”, did he declare. “We are hopeful of getting there, even if we understand and respect the fact that they are “free agents”. Paul has a decision to make with his player option. “James will be an unprotected free agent, so our intention is to bring him back, but we also know that they are top players and that they will have a choice.”
Following the elimination of the Clippers, Paul George quickly looked ahead to the activation of his option year at $48.7 million for 2024/25, and the prospect of finding Kawhi Leonard and James Harden. “If it works like that, absolutely”, he indicated. Enough to allow Lawrence Frank to approach discussions with confidence with a view to a long-term extension, potentially until 2027, like Kawhi Leonard?
“We want Paul, we value Paul”added Lawrence Frank. “Paul has done extraordinary things here. He’s a top player, and what matters most to us is that we always want to be able to treat players right and pay them right, while building a team. Especially since it is a new collective agreement. But in terms of the exact money, I’ll never go into detail, other than we’ve had very, very good discussions throughout the year and we hope we can get that there remains a Clipper.
Don’t you change a losing team?
The Clippers leader also gave news of Kawhi Leonard, who once again went through the infirmary box in the playoffs. “He has had two knee operations, but he has shown that he can be resistant”launches Lawrence Frank, without giving more details on the treatment to come.
In a league where franchises (over)react to the slightest failure, the Clippers have decided to apply the same recipe, as has been the case for five years, hoping that, this time, the wheel ends up turning in the common sense and that injuries finally spare Tyronn Lue’s group, which the leaders also wish to keep.
“I can understand the skepticism that this is another year without a healthy group. But I will be careful not to be cynical. Just because it happened doesn’t mean it will still happen next year,” concluded Lawrence Frank, who therefore relies on optimism.
Shots Rebounds Players MJ Min Shots 3pts LF Off Def Tot Pd Bp Int Ct Fte Pts Kawhi Leonard 68 34.3 52.5 41.7 88.5 1.2 4.9 6.1 3.6 1.8 1.6 0.9 1.4 23.7 Paul George 74 33.8 47.1 41.3 90. 7 0.5 4.7 5.2 3.5 2.1 1.5 0.5 2.7 22.6 James Harden 72 34.3 42.8 38.1 87.8 0.5 4.7 5.1 8.5 2.6 1.1 0.8 1.8 16.6 Norman Powell 76 26.2 48.6 43.5 83.1 0.2 2.4 2.6 1.1 0.9 0.6 0.3 1.8 13. 9 Ivica Zubac 68 26.4 64.9 0.0 72.3 2.9 6.3 9.2 1.4 1.2 0.3 1.2 2.6 11.7 Russell Westbrook 68 22.5 45.4 27.3 68.8 1.4 3.7 5.0 4.5 2.1 11.1 37 14.6 38.6 32.6 78.3 0.1 1.4 1.5 2.5 1.2 0.7 0.1 1.4 6.9 Amir Coffey 70 20.9 47.2 38.0 85.9 0.4 1.7 2.1 1.1 0.5 0.6 0.2 1.5 6.6 Daniel theis 59 17.1 53.6 37.1 76.0 1.4 2.7 4.1 1.0 0.7 0.4 0.9 2.1 6.3 9 0.0 70.7 1.3 3.8 5.1 1.2 0.8 0.3 0.4 1.5 5.3 Bj Boston, Jr. 32 10.8 40.4 26.9 69.7 0.6 1.0 1.6 0.4 0.8 0.3 0.3 1.3 5.2 Kj Martin 2 15.7 40.0 20.0 50.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 0.5 1.0 1.0 0.5 1.5 5.0 Robert Covington 3 23.1 33.3 25.0 50.0 0.7 2.0 2.7 2.3 0.0 2.0 0.7 2.3 3.0 Nicolas Batum 3 18.0 37.5 28.6 0.0 0.0 2.3 2.3 1.7 0.3 1.0 1.3 1.7 2.7 Moussa Diabate 11 5.8 52.6 0.0 64.3 1.4 0.8 2.2 0.4 0.2 0.5 0.1 0.4 2.6 Xavier Moon 14 8.5 32.6 11.8 50.0 0.6 0.7 1.3 1.5 0.4 0.2 0.2 0.6 2.4 Kobe Brown 44 9.0 41.1 29.2 50.0 0.5 1.0 1.4 0.6 0.2 0.3 0.1 1.1 2.0 Pj Tucker 28 15.0 35.6 36.7 100.0 1.0 1.6 2.5 0.6 0.2 0.5 0.2 1.6 1.6 Jordan Miller 8 3.5 55.6 50.0 100.0 0.4 0.3 0.6 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.3 1.6 Joshua Primo 2 5.1 33.3 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.5 0.0 2.0 0.0 0.5 0.0 1.0
2024-05-08 11:32:49
#Keeping #James #Harden #Paul #George #remains #Clippers #priority #Basket #USA
