Clippers Have a Glaring Center Problem

The Los Angeles Clippers moved on from Ivica Zubac at the trade deadline, not necessarily because they were unhappy with his production, but because the Indiana Pacers' offer was too good to turn down. They understandably didn't see themselves as title contenders this season, so turning Zubac into two potential lottery picks, Bennedict Mathurin, and Isaiah Jackson made plenty of sense. They also presumably wanted to see more of talented rookie Yanic Konan Niederhauser, and thought that a center rotation of Brook Lopez, Jackson, and Niederhauser would be enough for a team without championship aspirations.

Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case. Niederhauser suffered a Lisfranc injury and was ruled out for the season. The Clippers are now left with Jackson and Lopez as the only true centers on the roster, and that hasn't been sufficient as the team is desperately chasing a playoff seed.

Clippers Are Not Getting Enough From Their Centers

It turns out, the Clippers are actually better than many thought they would be at the deadline. They proved themselves as a surefire playoff team, but their center rotation may be their Achilles heel that prevents them from achieving their goal. One has to think that if the Clippers addressed the position right away after trading away Zubac, the fans would be feeling a lot better about their playoff chances.

Lopez is certainly playing better than he was earlier in the season, but he still has a larger role than he can handle at this stage in his career. He is averaging 27.8 minutes since the trade deadline, and is putting up 10.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.2 blocks per game on 47.1/36.6/68.0 shooting splits. While his shooting and rim protection remain important weapons, he is very limited in other areas of the game.

The soon-to-be 38-year-old is a bad rebounder for his size, never passes the ball, and is one of the least versatile centers in the league. His inability to move his feet prevents him from being able to switch out to the perimeter. So, the Clippers have to keep him close to the basket. This means that any team with floor-spacing big or ballhandlers who can shoot off-the-dribble can create serious problems for Lopez.

His backup, Jackson, has the opposite problem as Lopez. He can rebound well for his size, but he is still a six-foot-eight center. He doesn't have the required strength and interior presence to win against physically dominant centers. He has the mobility and speed, but doesn't have enough offensive juice to make the most of these tools.

Lopez and Jackson would be an ideal second and third center combination on a team. When they have to play 48 minutes of center for a playoff-hopeful team, however, it becomes a serious problem. If the Clippers had better small-ball five options, this would maybe be tenable. Perhaps Ty Lue still has to give John Collins and Nicolas Batum more of a chance at five, but it's hard to imagine it working against the best centers in the league.

This will continue to be an issue for the rest of the regular season and the postseason. How well the Clippers can survive poor center play will determine how far they can go in the spring.