Coming off a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Washington Wizards are staying in town to face the Clippers.
This will be the Wizards’ first game at the brand new Intuit Dome, which broke ground this season. I went to a Clipper game versus the Hawks when I was home in Los Angeles in January, and the Intuit Dome truly changes the way you as a fan experience an NBA game. Check out this video for a mini-tour:
The Wizards’ 11-game losing streak risks extending further against a fiesty Clippers team. I’ve got you covered with all the facts, stats, and storylines you should know ahead of the matchup as the NBA trade deadline continues to loom.
One of the NBA’s surprise teams
Ahead of the season, most people predicted the Clippers to finish with a win total somewhere in the mid-30s. Instead, LA is on pace for about 47 wins.
The Clippers are a fun, if not quite contending, team with a lot to love. First of all, the new logo and jerseys this season blow the old “LAC” branding out of the water and give the team a fresh, timeless look. I love the cursive font on the front of the jerseys, especially coming from the painfully blocky and generic old jersey font.
The Clippers have remained firmly in the playoff race after losing Paul George in free agency and being functionally without Kawhi Leonard this entire season. LA is fifth in the West even though Leonard has played in just five games this year and is posting averages of 13.6 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game in just under 22 minutes a night.
This is not the same Clippers of the past half-decade. Only Leonard, Ivica Zubac, and Terance Mann remain from the 2019-20 Clippers team that was assembled to contend for championships opposite the Lakers; that team mustered a single Western Conference Finals appearance and has not won a playoff series since 2021.
Rather, these Clippers are an assortment of role players plucked from other teams and led by James Harden, who is aging surprisingly gracefully as one of the league’s premiere passers and lob-throwers. This group defends better than everyone else in the NBA save for the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are on pace for around 70 wins.
Three worthy All-Stars… who won’t be selected
Three Clippers are worthy of All-Star consideration, none of whom anyone could have predicted ahead of the season. The trifecta of Harden, Zubac, and Norman Powell are all having All-Star caliber seasons and dominating in their respective roles.
Harden may not be the electrifying scorer he was in his Houston days, but he’s passing the ball out of his mind right now. Harden has a telepathic connection with Zubac, and the two represent one of the most prominent assister-to-scorer connections in the league.
On that note, Zubac has blossomed into legitimately one of the best centers in the NBA. I am Croatian — I speak the language, my whole dad’s side of the family lives over there, and I visit annually — and for years I have been heavily biased in favor of the Croatian Zubac, putting him in conversations where he does not belong. Cards on the table here. But man, it is so vindicating now to watch my guy flourish.
Take the other night against Anthony Davis, for example. Of course, it was an off night for Davis, but he (16 points, 10 rebounds) was thoroughly dominated by Zubac (21 points, 19 rebounds). Zubac is averaging career highs across the board, and is the fourth leading rebounder across the entire NBA at 12.7 per game. It pains me that he will likely not make the All-Star game.
Powell has transformed into one of the most automatic scorers in the NBA, which has been magnificent to watch. Check out some of the names averaging fewer points per game than Powell: Donovan Mitchell, Trae Young, Jaylen Brown, Stephen Curry, Jalen Williams, DeMar DeRozan, Lauri Markkanen, and Jamal Murray, just to name a few.
The beauty of the season Powell is having is that the obliteration of his scoring average from last year has come paired with increased efficiency. Powell’s scoring average exploded from 13.9 points per game last year to 23.7 this year, while his already-remarkable shooting splits are marginally up to 49% from the field and 44.1% from deep.
The shame of the seasons these three players are having is that none are likely to result in an All-Star selection. It would be much easier for the three to make it in the Eastern Conference, where limited frontcourt depth especially would handily punch Zubac’s ticket.
The same can be said about awards on this team as a whole. I honestly doubt any Clipper caps this season off with hardware of any kind, which is really a shame considering how well this team is playing and how fun they are to watch. If anything, Zubac could find himself on an All-Defense team, and he and Powell are both solid contenders for Most Improved Player.
A lockdown unit
The Clippers’ 107.5 defensive rating is the second-best in the NBA behind only the kleptomaniac Thunder. Kris Dunn and Zubac are the two defensive players who stand out as the engines of what is shaping up to be an elite defense.
Dunn locks up the opposing team’s best perimeter player without the imposing physical tools that other premiere perimeter defenders possess. His defensive ability lies mostly in his dogged intangibles that have defined players like Marcus Smart in the past, a trait that punched his ticket back into the NBA after a couple years spent in and out of the G League.
Zubac, always a good defender, has emerged this season as one of the best in the league. Zubac’s 1.2 blocks per game do not do his shot-blocking ability justice, as he doesn’t produce the sorts of highlight blocks that most notable defensive bigs are known for. Rather, Zubac minces anyone who tries him into cevapcici with a side of ajvar and a cold glass of Cedevita.
Wizards’ outlook
The Clippers-Wizards game is the second night of a back-to-back for LA. I’m writing this ahead of the first game against the Boston Celtics, where it appears the Clippers’ entire starting lineup will be sitting out.
If LA’s starters play, the Wizards are going to have an incredibly tough time scoring on this Clippers defense. I’d expect Jordan Poole to be locked in the Kris Dunngeon all evening long, while any attempt at the rim will be swallowed up by Zubac.
Luckily for Washington, the Clippers are not a particularly formidable offensive team. The Harden-to-Zubac connection has been a feast of biblical proportions all season, while Powell’s self-creation and shotmaking ability have made him the team’s leading scorer. Other than those three players, there is not a lot of juice in the Clippers offense, especially when Kawhi Leonard isn’t playing.
Conclusions
I’ve had a ton of fun watching this Clippers team this year. It’s been a nice break from the soulless load-managing husk of a superteam that’s taken the court the past few seasons.
If the Clippers’ starters play, a bloodbath between LA’s top-two defense and Washington’s league-worst offense is in order. Just score 80, Wizards.
If the starters don’t play, you’re gonna be spending a lot of time on the Wikipedia pages of players you’ve never heard of during the game. Shoutout to Baltimore native Trentyn Flowers.
Wizards at Clippers tips off at 10:30 p.m. EST on Thursday, Jan. 23.
All stats and records are accurate as of noon on Jan. 22. Due to the two games being back-to-back, the Clippers’ game against the Boston Celtics on Jan. 22 will not be reflected in this article.