How the Clippers, who keep getting deeper, better and older, are zagging in youth-focused NBA

Chris Paul is reuniting with the Los Angeles Clippers at 40 years old, and he’s just the latest veteran free agent to arrive at their throwback party. The Clippers successfully recruited 32-year-old guard Bradley Beal last week, fresh off his buyout with the Phoenix Suns, and they began the offseason by picking up 37-year-old center Brook Lopez.

For most of NBA history, a series of signings like this would be business as usual for a win-now team built around a 34-year-old wing (Kawhi Leonard) and a primary playmaker who will turn 36 before the season starts (James Harden). Twenty-two years ago, the Los Angeles Lakers held a press conference to introduce Karl Malone and Gary Payton a week before the Hall of Famers turned 40 and 35, respectively. Four years ago, Harden played for a Brooklyn Nets team that started the season with a 36-year-old LaMarcus Aldridge, a 36-year-old Paul Millsap and a 32-year-old Blake Griffin on the roster. (Aldridge and Griffin’s previous teams had bought them out.)

The 2025 Oklahoma City Thunder had no ring chasers on the roster, though, and 33-year-old Indiana Pacers guard T.J. McConnell was the oldest player in either conference champion’s rotation. Between the style-of-play and officiating changes that the league has seen in recent years, the NBA has never demanded more of its players in terms of movement and physicality. 

“We’re playing almost like two games compared to 10 years ago and how involved the bodies are,” Thunder GM Sam Presti said at his end-of-season press conference. 

In recent months, both Philadelphia 76ers general manager Daryl Morey and Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr have said that younger players are more likely to hold up over the course of a season. In this context, the Clippers’ decision to double down on experience can be seen as a zag. The whole league is trying to catch up to Oklahoma City; can a team made up mostly of 30-somethings even stay in the race?

On Saturday, Clippers president Lawrence Frank told reporters that the front office had tried to “add the best people possible” and they just happened to be vets. “What’s age?” Frank said. “It’s just a number, right?” Big man John Collins, whom they acquired in the Norman Powell trade, is entering his ninth season, will be 28 when it begins and is the youngest player in Los Angeles’ projected rotation. Frank pointed out that Beal is “technically” younger than the 2 guard he is more or less replacing — he was born 34 days after Powell — and described Lopez as “ageless.”

“Thirty-seven is like 17,” Frank said. “Because I need Brook to be younger because that makes me younger, since I coached him when he was a rookie.”

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Maybe there’s some irony in the fact that, a year after letting Paul George walk because they didn’t want to offer the 34-year-old star a four-year contract, the Clippers have four players older than him: Harden, Lopez, Paul and forward Nicolas Batum, who turns 37 in December. Young players are important is not the only lesson to learn from the 2024-25 season, though. In a league that is increasingly valuing depth, size and optionality, the Clippers’ offseason is, with the exception of the age of their acquisitions, on trend.

It could not have been easy to see George leave, but the front office never saw it as letting him go for nothing. What Los Angeles got in exchange was flexibility. By getting under the second apron, the Clippers were able to add Batum (using the bi-annual exception), Derrick Jones Jr. (using the midlevel exception) and Kris Dunn (in a sign-and-trade) last summer, then trade for Bogdan Bogdanovic midseason. In a way, trading Powell for Collins (which wouldn’t have been possible had they been over the second apron) rather than offering Powell a hefty extension mirrors their decision with George: They effectively turned him into multiple players and preserved their future cap space. 

This is not to say that the Clippers planned in 2024 to split their 2025 MLE between Beal and Lopez. “We never thought Brad Beal would be bought out,” Frank said, but they put themselves in position to offer free agents more than the minimum, which has allowed them to build a dangerous, versatile and extremely deep team. Before the Paul signing, Frank said, accurately, that they had 10 “proven NBA rotation players” on the roster. Heading into the offseason, they wanted to give coach Tyronn Lue “different tools and different personnel to experiment with,” Frank said. They wanted to diversify the frontcourt, get bigger and add playmaking and shooting. They have done all of that.

In recent years, the Clippers have always had the personnel to play small when needed. Now, with Collins and Lopez in the mix, they can also go the other way. Between Zubac and Lopez, they have 48 minutes of rim protection, and Lue could even play them together, like the Houston Rockets did with Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams (but with better spacing). Collins can set screens, initiate dribble-handoffs, operate in the dunker spot and space the floor. Lopez is the stretch 5 this team has forever been searching for. 

According to Frank, Lue wants more movement in the halfcourt, so Beal’s ability to shoot and make plays off screens will come in handy. Between him, Paul and, ideally, a healthier Leonard, there will be less of a burden on Harden in 2025-26. Because Dunn, Jones and Batum are still around, Los Angeles can continue to limit the amount of time Leonard has to spend guarding opposing stars in the regular season, too.

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All things equal, the Clippers would love to be younger — Frank said as much in the aftermath of their Game 7 loss against the Denver Nuggets. Their priority in the offseason, though, was to get better. On paper at least, they’ve done that. And while there’s always risk in betting on a player in his mid-to-late 30s staying healthy, they might have mitigated it by making several such bets simultaneously. Lopez played 2,456 minutes last season, his highest total since 2011, but, unless something goes horribly wrong, they won’t need anywhere near that number from him next season. Paul played 2,292 minutes, his highest total since 2016 — same deal. 

Los Angeles fared better than anybody expected throughout Leonard’s extended absence last season, and, with the talent it has added, it is even better equipped to withstand injuries now. “We’ve addressed our needs,” Frank said. If that means they’re ancient compared to the defending champs, so be it.