Latest Clippers intel presents clear priorities before NBA trade deadline

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Latest Clippers intel presents clear priorities before NBA trade deadline

Tomer Azarly, ClutchPoints · ClutchPoints

Wed, Jan 21, 2026 ·

10 min read

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Latest Clippers intel presents clear priorities before NBA trade deadline appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .

ClutchPoints' NBA insider Brett Siegel contributed to this report.

The NBA's trade deadline is just two weeks away, and teams around the league are gearing up for what should be an active few weeks. The LA Clippers are expected to be one of the many teams in active discussions to make moves, but those are widely expected to come much closer to the February 5th deadline.

The Clippers started the season 6-21 with three losing streaks of at least five games in those first 26 games. Despite playing better in the first half of December, LA was still losing games at a pace that saw them be one of the worst teams in the league.

Then, on December 20th, something appeared to have finally clicked. Head coach Tyronn Lue came out before the Clippers' home game against the Los Angeles Lakers and stated that the team's internal goal is to finish the season with a record of 35-20 or better. At 35-20, the would place the Clippers with a 41-41 record.

"We don't have the record we think we should have right now, but that's behind us," Lue said before the Clippers hosted the Lakers on December 20th. "Just talking to our guys today, our main focus, our main goal is to go 35-20 the rest of the way, and just keep stacking wins from there."

Since that goal was mentioned, Lue's Clippers have gone 13-3. Their only three losses have been against the Chicago Bulls very shorthanded, the Boston Celtics — who shot the lights out of the ball led by Jaylen Brown 's career-high 50 points — and the New York Knicks inside Madison Square Garden.

While the Clippers have certainly improved in a multitude of areas, one of the biggest changes has been that the Clippers are simply playing better on both ends of the floor. Everyone from Kawhi Leonard and John Collins to the young guys in Jordan Miller and Kobe Sanders have picked up their level of play, giving the Clippers much-needed life in a season that was quickly spiraling downwards.

So where does this leave the Clippers, 19-24 on the season, with a little over two weeks until the NBA's February 5th trade deadline?

Clippers' focus at the trade deadline

Thus far, there haven't really been any major moves in the league, and that's mostly due to the league waiting on a couple of dominoes to fall first *cough cough* Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jonathan Kuminga .

As it stands, the LA Clippers' biggest focus at this NBA trade deadline is to free up another roster spot or two, league sources tell ClutchPoints. As mentioned in ClutchPoints' weekly show with insider Brett Siegel, Clutch Scoops, the Clippers want to free up roster spots and money further below the first apron line in order to sign two-way players Kobe Sanders and Jordan Miller to standard contracts.

Sanders, selected 50th overall in the 2025 NBA Draft by the organization, has been a glue guy for the Clippers as he continues to fill multiple positions of need, whether it be for Kawhi Leonard or Derrick Jones Jr. Since entering the rotation on November 12th, Sanders has played in every game and made seven starts for the Clippers.

Miller has dealt with a number of injuries to start the season, including a left hamstring strain late in the preseason. He returned in November to play two games before re-aggravating the hamstring injury in Boston when the Clippers took on the Celtics.

Finally healthy, Miller is playing at a level that makes him borderline irremovable from the Clippers rotation regardless of who is healthy. Through just 21 games played, Miller has already played more games of 20 or more minutes this season than he did in his first two season (45 games) combined. Miller is also in his third year in the league and will not be two-way eligible after this season, putting even more pressure on the Clippers to find a way to convert him to a standard contract.

The NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement states that any game a team plays with fewer than 15 standard contracts on the roster is deemed an "Under 15 game," adding that, "No team shall be permitted to have a two-way player on its active list for more than 90 "Under 15 games" during the regular season."

The Clippers only had 16 games remaining of the "Under 15" rule, but were able to prolong the number of games that Miller and Sanders have left to play together by signing Patrick Baldwin Jr . to a 10-day contract on January 16th, giving them 15 full roster spots and the ability to play all their two-way players, including TyTy Washington , without affecting impacting the games they had left.

They can also sign Baldwin Jr. to a second 10-day contract, and that would effectively take them through the February 5th trade deadline and afford them time to make roster decisions.

The Clippers' avenues towards signing Sanders and Miller begin with two names who are expected to be moved by the trade deadline: Chris Paul and Kobe Brown .

Chris Paul was sent home by the Clippers back on December 3rd, during the team's four-game trip out East. The organization made it clear that Paul wasn't being scapegoated for their poor start to the season, but the turnaround in the weeks since his departure has certainly raised some eyebrows around the league.

To this point, the Clippers have not been able to find a trade partner to take on Paul. Teams like the New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks , and Minnesota Timberwolves have all been interested in acquiring depth at the guard position, but it remains to be seen how interested they are in a 40-year old Paul.

The 20-year NBA guard has stayed in shape and continued working out in Los Angeles , but there hasn't been much traction on a deal that would allow him to finish his career elsewhere.

The Clippers are among multiple teams who have interest in trading away a guard, like the Toronto Raptors with Immanuel Quickley , the Charlotte Hornets with Collin Sexton , and the Chicago Bulls with Coby White , to name a few.

Once things on the trade market begin to unfold, trade destinations for Chris Paul could surface based on who is and isn't able to trade for guard depth.

Kobe Brown is the other Clippers player expected to be moved by the February 5th trade deadline. A four-year forward out of Missouri, the Clippers drafted Brown with the hopes that his ball-handling, playmaking, and his frame at 6-foot-7 could lead him to develop into a Draymond Green-esque player who can play both ends of the floor.

But the now 26-year old forward has been unable to consistently crack the team's rotation despite their injury woes due to his lack of shooting and some his uneven play in the minutes he was given. And that's not to say he hasn't worked on it. Brown is always among the last players in the gym still working on his three-point shot with Kris Dunn , Cam Christie , and Jordan Miller by the time guys start heading home.

At this stage, Brown simply hasn't developed how the franchise was hoping he would. In October 2025, the Clippers declined the fourth year option on Brown's contract worth $4.79 million, making him an unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2026.

They're expected to move off Brown's expiring contract worth $2.7 million, and paired with the $2.3 million Chris Paul is owed, would give the Clippers enough room under the first apron to sign both Kobe Sanders and Jordan Miller to at least the prorated veteran minimum, assuming they can take back next to nothing in salary in return.

Any other Clippers on the trade market?

The Clippers have a number of very moveable contracts, if they wanted to create some roster flexibility or trade for a big name player. And while the trade deadline will offer them an opportunity to improve their roster by making moves involving those players, there hasn't been much of them doing so.

Ivica Zubac has been widely considered the Clippers best trade asset, with the Boston Celtics, Indiana Pacers , and Charlotte Hornets among at least five teams who inquired about the big man's availability when the team was going through its struggles, league sources told ClutchPoints.

The Clippers, however, have rejected trade offers for Zubac, with a belief around the league that they're seeking multiple first round picks in any potential deal for him. One team offered an unprotected first round pick and a pick swap in an offer for Zubac, sources said, but those talks didn't go anywhere.

HoopsHype reported that the Sacramento Kings had, "exploratory conversations on a trade involving DeMar DeRozan and Keon Ellis for Clippers forward John Collins and another small salary filler," but that came prior to the Clippers winning 13 of their 15 games and turning their season around.

The Clippers do not appear interested in moving John Collins and his $26.5 million expiring contract at this time, as the starting forward has played well as a starter, averaging 14.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.0 assist, 1.0 steal, and 1.1 blocks over his last 23 games while shooting 60.6 percent from the field and 48.8 percent from three.

Bogdan Bogdanovic isn't a player the Clippers are actively shopping either, but he is a player that could entice some teams on the trade market. The Serbian guard, who has struggled to stay healthy this season, earns $16 million this season and has a team option worth $16 million next season, giving whichever team that acquires him his rights and some flexibility.

One name who has been linked to the Clippers previously who could find himself on the move and in need of a new destination is Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma . With Milwaukee expressing their desire to make a significant roster upgrade before the deadline, Kuzma has emerged as the player most likely to be on the move from the Bucks.

Talk around the league surrounding Kuzma had focused on his past desire to return to Los Angeles, and the Clippers were a team mentioned as a suitor for the former NBA champion when he was still with the Washington Wizards in 2024.

Other players that have been linked to the Clippers over the last several days are Collin Sexton, Anfernee Simons , and Coby White. All three players are on expiring contracts and are currently on teams that likely prefer to move them for the right price. The Clippers are in need for another ball-handler and playmaker who could spell James Harden and Kawhi Leonard, so any of those three players could be an upgrade at the guard position for LA.

The Clippers' moves aren't expected to be anything groundbreaking, but the franchise will continue to focus on team-building around Leonard and Harden without investing first round draft assets into this iteration of the team.

Amid the Clippers' recent surge to put themselves in position to contend for a playoff spot, caution and flexibility remain core principles Steve Ballmer and this front office continue to preach. Whether the Clippers make a roster upgrade or not is solely dependent on their ability to buy low at the trade deadline.

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