Clippers projected lineup and rotations heading into 2023-24 season

The Los Angeles Clippers enter the next season with the same championship hope they’ve had for the last four seasons. Let us take a look at who Tyronn Lue has to get them there. 

The Los Angeles Clippers have spent the majority of their offseason sitting around and doing nothing. The only thing Jerry West has done so far this offseason was re-signing Russell Westbrook and Mason Plumlee and trading for Kenyon Martin Jr.

One of the reasons that the Clippers offseason has been relatively quiet is the trade request from James Harden. Harden, after spending a season and a half with the Philadelphia 76ers, has made it very clear that he would like to be traded to the Clippers. The 76ers have planned to not trade Harden so the Clippers are left here trying to keep their pieces in case Philly is ready to move on.

In the 2019 offseason, the Clippers made shocking headlines as they successfully signed for Kawhi Leonard and traded for Paul George. The Clippers instantly became title favorites and have maintained that perception over the last four seasons — and continued to disappoint year after year.

In the 2020 playoffs, they blew a 3-1 to the Denver Nuggets in the second round. In the 2021 playoffs, they made it to the Western Conference Finals but, due to an ACL tear for Leonard, they lost in six games to the Suns. They lost in 2022 in the Play-In to the Timberwolves and Pelicans with Leonard injured again and Paul George testing positive for COVID-19 before the second game. Last season, they lost in five games to the Phoenix Suns with Leonard and George once again dealing with injury.

Tyronn Lue has made it clear that part of the reason for their failures has been that they have not taken the regular season seriously. Hopefully, they finally will and let’s take a look at Tyronn Lue’s roster for the start of the 2023-24 season.

Los Angeles Clippers starting point guard: Russell Westbrook

Russell Westbrook had one of the strangest seasons last year. He played in 73 games, 52 of them with the Los Angeles Lakers, and came off the bench for 49 games. The remaining 21 games he played with the Clippers and started all of them.

During his time with the Lakers, Westbrook received massive amounts of criticism, and it was somewhat deserved due to his inefficient play. The Lakers eventually traded him to the Jazz and he was soon released. He signed with the other Los Angeles team, the Clippers.

In his new situation, Westbrook began to rewrite the script and change the narrative that he had with the Lakers. In those 21 regular season games with the Clippers, Westbrook averaged 15.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 7.6 assists on 49/36/66 splits. Then in the postseason, he looked like he was back in his prime where he averaged 23.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 7.4 assists on 41/36/88 splits.

Westbrook is a very unique player. In order for him to be effective, you have to put him in the right situation. That is why he was much more effective with the Clippers than with the Lakers; the Clippers had the right situation for him.

Westbrook is still one of the best players in the league at attacking. The Clippers have a lot of great shooters around him, which should make him more effective. With Russ being a pretty good playmaker, having those shooters around him should stuff his stat sheet with a ton of assists.

The one thing that we can’t deny about Westbrook is that he’ll die on every possession he plays, which is one of the reasons he’s a great rebounder for his size. Even though he plays hard, sometimes he tends to get very wild where he’ll have an untimely turnover and take a really bad shot. When those moments happen Lue will have to make the decision on whether or not to keep him in the game, if does decide to take them out, the Clippers have depth to make up for it.

Primary backup point guard: Nah’Shon (Bones) Hyland

At the trade deadline last season, the Clippers traded away Reggie Jackson for another point guard in Bones Hyland. He only played 14 games with the Clippers and, in those games, he averaged 10.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.4 assists on 40/35/75 splits.

Hyland was originally traded because he wanted a bigger role than what he had with the Nuggets, and he won’t have that with the Clippers. Even so, Hyland at times can be a great spark plug off the bench for the Clippers. He is a natural scorer, shooter, and a very solid playmaker. These are all attributes a team wants from their backup point guard.

Hyland is part of an elite bench unit with the Clippers along with all the other stars they have on this team. Do not be surprised if he has his most impactful season in the league yet and will help lead this Clippers bench unit along with Norman Powell.

Others who could receive minutes: Jason Preston, Terance Mann, Norman Powell

The Clippers don’t have another true point guard on their roster besides Russell Westbrook and Bones Hyland. They do have some substitutes, though. If either of those guys get hurt Jason Preston is their best choice. He was a second-round pick in 2022 and played in 14 games last season. Westbrook is an iron man so the odds of him being hurt are low and the Clippers have thrown in Terance Man as a point guard before so Preston probably won’t receive any playing time.