2017-18 fantasy basketball preview: Los Angeles Clippers

Over the coming weeks, we at FanSided will do a team-by-team breakdown of each NBA franchise’s fantasy prospects for the 2017-18 season. Let’s continue today with the Los Angeles Clippers.

After spending the past six years building around Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, the Los Angeles Clippers will look radically different this coming season. That opens the door for each of their incumbent players and new additions to shake up their career outlook moving forward, creating uncertainty for fantasy basketball owners.

Now that Paul is a Houston Rocket, the Clippers have to reinvent their offense around no longer having a ball-dominant point guard. Griffin could absorb more ball-handling responsibility, as Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer advocated for in late June. Free-agent signee Milos Teodosic could as well, given his dazzling passing ability. Patrick Beverley, who came over in the Paul trade, also has experience starting as a nominal point guard but playing largely in an off-ball role.

Once head coach Doc Rivers comes up with a plan of attack at the point, he’ll need to figure out how best to maximize his frontcourt. Is Danilo Gallinari best suited to play the 3 or the 4 at this point of his career? Can Montrezl Harrell, Sam Dekker and Willie Reed provide enough of a punch off the bench? With Jordan potentially heading into a contract year, could he become trade bait if the L.A. gets off to a slow start? The answers to those questions will heavily influence how each player fares in fantasy.

Which Clippers players should fantasy owners target with early-, mid- and late-round picks, and who should be left on the waiver wire? Let’s take a look.

Early-round picks

Blake Griffin, PF: Due to his relative lack of three-pointers and defensive counting stats, Griffin has long been someone whose star profile outweighs his fantasy impact. He’s a safe bet to average north of 20 points, eight rebounds and roughly five assists, but he chipped in just 0.9 steals, 0.6 3-pointers and 0.4 blocks last season en route to finishing as the 42nd-ranked player on a per-game basis in nine-category leagues. If the Clippers tap into Griffin’s passing acumen more with Paul gone, his assists total should rise, but his turnovers could as well. Given his lengthy injury history — he’s missed at least 15 games in each of the past three season — he’ll make for a high-risk, high-reward late third- or early fourth-round pick.

DeAndre Jordan, C: The loss of Paul throws Jordan’s fantasy value into serious flux, as he’ll no longer have one of the league’s most dangerous pick-and-roll threats feeding him lob after lob. Jordan has led the league in field-goal percentage for five straight seasons, but without Paul in the fold, it’s an open question whether he can maintain that type of efficiency. Despite shooting a miserable 48.2 percent from the free-throw line this past year, he finished as the 49th-ranked player on a per-game basis in nine-category leagues by virtue of his sterling 71.4 percent overall shooting, 12.7 points, 13.8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks. If Paul’s departure doesn’t force him out of his comfort zone, another top-50 finish could be well within reach, making him a reasonable fifth-round pick.

Mid-round picks

Danilo Gallinari, SF: While most teams have pivoted toward smaller lineups to counter the Golden State Warriors in recent years, the Clippers swam against the tide this offseason by acquiring Gallinari to pair alongside Griffin and Jordan. Gallo was a fantasy stud last season, finishing as the 43rd-ranked player on a per-game basis in nine-category leagues in large part due to his career-high 90.2 percent free-throw shooting on 6.1 attempts per night. Throw in averages of 18.2 points on 44.7 percent shooting overall, 5.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.0 triples, and the only reasons he isn’t a rock-steady top-50 pick are his injury history and uncertainty about his role in L.A. Regardless, he’ll be worth a look in the seventh or eighth rounds.

Patrick Beverley, PG: If the Clippers do plan to utilize Griffin more as a primary ball-handler, Beverley would make for an excellent nominal starting point guard. Having started the past four seasons alongside James Harden in Houston, the Arkansas product is used to thriving in an off-ball role, as evidenced by the 9.5 points on 42.0 percent shooting, 5.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.6 triples and 1.5 steals he averaged in just 30.7 minutes per game last season. While his point totals won’t jump off the screen, his contributions in rebounds, steals and threes make him a valuable fantasy contributor nevertheless, which explains his 58th-placed finish on a per-game basis in nine-category leagues in 2016-17. Beverley may have Teodosic breathing down his neck for much of the year, but his defensive aptitude should give him a leg up in the starting competition, making him a worthwhile seventh- or eighth-round pick.

Lou Williams, PG: After spending most of the past two seasons dominating in a reserve role with the Los Angeles Lakers, Williams finds himself right back in Tinseltown, where he should slide back into a similar role with the Clippers. The 30-year-old was a leading Sixth Man of the Year contender prior to his trade to Houston in February, as he poured in 18.6 points on 44.4 percent shooting, 3.2 assists, 2.3 rebounds, 2.1 triples and 1.1 steals in just 24.2 minutes per night with the Lakers. Given the strong probability of Williams emerging as the Clippers’ primary scoring threat in the second unit, don’t be surprised if he finishes with top-75 value for the second straight season, making him a worthy eighth- or ninth-round pick.

Late-round picks

Austin Rivers, SG: With JJ Redick and Jamal Crawford both gone, Rivers seems likely to slide into the starting lineup alongside Beverley and assume a larger offensive role. He finished outside of the standard-league fantasy radar last season after averaging 12.0 points on 44.2 percent shooting, 2.8 assists, 2.2 rebounds, 1.5 triples and 0.6 steals in 27.8 minutes per game, but an uptick in steals, threes or assists could make him at least mildly intriguing for fantasy purposes. Owners shouldn’t go out of their way to acquire Rivers, but with the Clippers lacking little proven depth at shooting guard outside of Williams, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he finishes among the top 150 this season.

Waiver-wire fodder

Milos Teodosic, PG

Jawun Evans, PG

Wesley Johnson, SG

DeAndre Liggins, SG

Sindarius Thornwell, SG

Sam Dekker, SF

Montrezl Harrell, PF

Brice Johnson, PF

Willie Reed, C

Next: 30 worst NBA playoff teams of all time

Sleepers/Busts

Sleeper: Patrick Beverley

Bust: Blake Griffin

Other team breakdowns

All average draft position info via FantasyPros. All rankings via Basketball Monster are based on nine-category leagues.

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