Clippers collapse, Bulls go big?

L.A., infamously, cannot bottom out.

The Clippers, too, the team owes its unprotected 2026 first-round pick to Oklahoma City, L.A. cannot profit from its harrowing 2025-26 descent. A Billy King-sized abyss surrounding a miserable so-far season, well on pace for maybe 20 wins.

Anyone who caught what Miami did to the Clippers on Monday would wonder if the Clippers are within any danger of doubling its win total between now and the 2026 NBA draft lottery. The 5-16 outfit may have a few sizable tricks left, though not the obvious large one. Canning Tyronn Lue isn't changing anything. What's needed is what many presumed would be the force ahead of 2025-26: John Collins off the bench.

Not starting at power forward, dulling the paint and deadening the transition defense. Collins should not be a scapegoat in the same way Kawhi Leonard should not be a small forward. And JC was in the starting lineup for two of the Clippers' ... uh, wins? Double overtime over Dallas, plus an Early Bird Special (1 PM local start) conquest in Charlotte.

The only victories in November, December. Not the resume to right a Clipper, peel off the remaining 45 or 30 wins required for a playoff spot or Play-In bid. The sort of season-end summation to make missing out on a first-round draft pick worth the exercise. Which doctors tell men like Kawhi Leonard and James Harden they should get plenty of at their age.

If this is proof of ongoing decrepitude to bank upon, breaking these superstar Clippers off in exchange for nimbler types might be a go.

Dealing Kawhi Leonard for the less-sensational Andrew Wiggins only makes sense if Miami seeks it, I'm not convinced Miami does. Wiggins (if he doesn't miss a beat amid his travels) at least shores up the defense, scores without asking too much from the offense, makes sixty percent what Kawhi does. Trading Harden is even more difficult, Daryl Morey already has a lot of guards.

Whatever the decision, the immediate flight is the thing. Those stars require moving on in direct exchange for win-now talent, something for a postseason drive. L.A. owns no motivation to deal for lose-now prospects, Rob Dillingham to LaMelo Ball, enhancing OKC's lottery odds.

So, the Clippers could go direct to the boss. The NBA's preeminent launderer.

Ask Sam Presti what it would take to get the pick back. Ask the league, Houston and Washington are in on this. Presti wants no veteran Clipper to gild his lily, he also understands that a projected No. 5 selection is only as good as the lottery balls underneath. Why cling to a No. 9 choice in 2026 when it could be turned into multiple dangling firsts throughout the 2030s?

Again, ask the league.

The last team in this scenario, Sean Marks in his first full season with King's Nets, sheepishly won 20 games in 2016-17 while playing it straight, sending the ball right into Brook Lopez and asking Lopez to pretend like any of this was normal. Lawrence Frank's 2026 Clippers have Lopez and even more to offer, but only if we pretend to presume James Harden performs like the $42.3 million he's due in 2026-27, or if Leonard (owed $50 million next season, for basketball) will be around at all.

What we do know is that this lineup doesn't work, the Clippers aren't without capital but do owe a pick swap to OKC in 2027, a first-round pick to Philly in 2028, and a swap with the Sixers in 2029. This future is spoken for, but there are ways to improve immediate fortunes.

Better trade for Miles Bridges, we know Frank is fine with someone like Bridges. Sean Marks had no such Kawhi or Collins or Harden or Ivica Zubac to deal away in 2016 and 2017 and still drew up a team a tiptoe from the 2021 NBA Finals.

There was always a prominent-enough chance the Clippers would fade, exactly like this. We've waited years for this likelihood to emerge.

Lawrence Frank has a plan in place, right?

BULLS

If it were any other team, no, don't trade for Anthony Davis. He turns 33 in March.

But the Bulls won't ever rebuild, they need at least a random 46-win showing to make good among season ticketholders and an available Anthony Davis would help with this. Anthony Davis is not the answer to most teams' defensive problems, but even Anthony Davis helps Chicago's rim defense.

Yet, why do I have any reason to believe Anthony Davis will top 65 games in 2026-27? Why should I believe the currently-cleared Anthony Davis (seven appearances so far in 22 Mavericks contests) will top 41 outings in 2025-26?

Even if Coby White isn't an All-Star, he's still gonna play basketball in 2026-27. The Bulls (to Chicago's credit) currently carefully ensure this.

Even if Chicago deals for Davis yesterday and AD stays on the court through April, this move only ensures a Play-In. Davis scores with ease, he can gather passes and finish like few others, this skill remains. Doesn't matter, the East is alright, the Bulls so-so. Maybe Toronto comes back to earth, but Boston and Atlanta have yet to finish ascending. Davis improves some of the defense but not all of it, not even close.

Chicago can win while keeping course, Vucevic remains an embarrassing representation of Chicago and its values, but if Vuc hits from outside the Bulls own enough (with White returning) to finish above .500.

Exactly one game over .500. March basketball is terrible, it favors the competent.

Coby White would be a delightful addition to the Mavs, perfect for Cooper Flagg, not as slick as Jason Terry but certainly more eager to dive for loose balls. Nikola Vucevic is gone this summer, the rebuild begins: Dallas doesn't have to pay Davis over 35 percent of the salary cap through 2028, $58.5 million in 2026-27 and $62.9 in 2027-28. Doesn't have to worry about which of the 58 or 62 games Anthony Davis is around for.

These aren't slags at AD, merely a recognition of his position. He took the hits in New Orleans, later ran the Lakers to a championship. These minutes add up.

To way fewer minutes. And at unexpected parts of the season, including the postseason.

Say Davis plays the entire way through, is that still worth over $121 million through 2028? Plus whatever's left to pay of AD's $54.1 million owed in 2025-26? To the Bulls, yes, Anthony Davis' massive salary excuses them from further investment. It means they took a shot, a Big Name (Comin' Home).

It won't work out, even if Davis plays as if in prime, because certain factions of this lineup are unsalvageable.

Speaking of the guy I'm talking about, it was hilarious to watch a Bulls source attempt to align Josh Giddey and Tyrese Haliburton. Indiana is not dangerous because Haliburton is full of dimes or goals in the clutch but because Haliburton effortlessly splashes from 25-feet. Giddey's derring-do does nothing if he isn't making it count for three points at a time.

Haliburton is great because he can ably launch ten threes per 100 possessions and routinely make four, Giddey to his credit hits 2.4 threes per 100 in 2025-26 on 6.4 attempts per 100, a 40 percent clip. He also doubled his free throw rate so far in 2025-26, twice that of Haliburton's rate.

But, defense. But, ability to let loose: Tyrese did this nearly from the outset, even with that much-mocked form. The Bulls can win and maybe win big even among Giddey's limitations, but every added piece needs to seal his particular fissures. I saw Particular Fissures open for Jubilee Songbirds at the Avalon on Belmont.

Anthony Davis, even at intermittent health, would be one of those perfect pieces. Not at $60 million a year, though. Not with his threat of pull, sprain, tear.

Chicago would do this because Bulls. An easy fix, pitched as if known to be comin' along this whole time.

Vuc and Coby and Pat Williams and Zach Collins (expiring) and Dalen Terry for AD and Kyrie, Dallas takes the (questionable) Portland first-round pick. Dallas can cut whoever it wants to clear roster room.

That's me, projecting, making a trade I don't want to make while under the Reinsdorf family's charge. How Artūras Karnišovas proceeds is anyone's guess, he seems to really like Nikola Vucevic.

TIE IT TOGETHER

Anthony Davis and the $19.3 million owed beyond this season to Caleb Martin for Kawhi and John Collins.

YES WE CAN CAN

Thank you for reading!