The Clippers are sinking. Should the Suns go fishing?

What is a Clipper? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Well, my unnautically aware friend, it’s a ship. More specifically, a 19th-century merchant ship. And seeing as the Los Angeles Clippers originated in San Diego after moving from Buffalo in 1978, it makes sense that a team in one of the greatest port cities on Earth would be named after one.

Following the circumvention death sentence the Clippers received as a result of the Kawhi Leonard acquisition in 2019, that ship is doing more than taking on water. It’s sinking. They lost five first-round draft picks in the process, and those penalties don’t even begin until 2029 because they didn’t own their 2027 or 2028 picks to begin with. Their ability to build through the draft or utilize those picks in trades is essentially null and void.

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I know plenty of people are concerned that the Phoenix Suns don’t control their own first-round pick until 2032. That’s a long time away. But that isn’t the same as not having first-round picks. The Suns still have them; they’re simply heavily swapped and will likely find themselves outside of the lottery. For the Clippers, those assets no longer exist.

Imagine being a member of that team. Imagine waking up this morning and thinking about your future as a basketball player. If winning matters to you, that ship may have sailed. Pun intended.

So as the Clippers try to figure out how to move forward and salvage something from the wreckage, there could be an opportunity for the Phoenix Suns to make a run at an asset or two if they deem one worth pursuing. And one asset worth exploring, the subject of today’s thought exercise, is Darius Garland.

It’s perceived as the primary concern for the Suns as they prepare for the 2026–27 season: the lack of a traditional point guard. The plan appears to be a backcourt of Devin Booker and Jalen Green, which on the surface looks like a pair of duplicative players. They’re both shooting guards, although they operate in much different spaces. Booker is a midrange assassin, while Green uses his athleticism to get downhill and put pressure on the rim. Both are below-average…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/clippers-sinking-suns-fishing-180000176.html

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Publish date : 2026-09-03 18:00:00

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