NBA Notes: Clippers, James Harden, Jazz, Ace Bailey, Trail Blazers

Clippers

Re-signing James Harden remains the top item on the Clippers’ offseason checklist, according to team president Lawrence Frank.

Speaking to reporters this week, Frank said the team wants to keep the 35-year-old guard and is prepared to work toward a long-term deal if he declines his $36.3 million player option by Sunday.

“We hope to find something mutually beneficial,” Frank said, via ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk.

Frank also noted that the Clippers are staying active on the trade front. While no immediate moves are expected, he said the front office wants to be in position to make a competitive offer if a star becomes available.

“You’re constantly engaged and looking to get better,” Frank said. “Our goal is how can we get this current group as good as it can possibly be, but have flexibility going forward.”

As for Kawhi Leonard, the team is encouraged by his offseason progress. Frank said Leonard has continued training through the end of the NBA Finals, “to push his body to get to that point” to play deep in June.

“He’s extremely excited because it’s the first time in a while he is not rehabbing from injury and getting back to working,” Frank said.

Leonard didn’t debut until January last season but was able to stay mostly healthy from that point on, appearing in all seven games of the Clippers’ first-round playoff series.

Jazz

The Jazz weren’t supposed to land Ace Bailey, at least not according to his pre-draft script. But on Wednesday night, Utah made the call anyway, selecting the dynamic Rutgers forward with the No. 5 overall pick in a move that defied expectations and upended Bailey’s efforts to steer his destination.

According to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, Bailey didn’t list Utah among his preferred landing spots and notably skipped all pre-draft workouts. It signaled an apparent effort to fall to a team that could promise him immediate playing time and a prominent offensive role. The Wizards were thought to be a strong possibility at No. 6, but Utah grabbed him one spot earlier, ending the suspense.

“We really like him as a player and a fit in our program,” Jazz president of basketball operations Austin Ainge said.

Once considered a top-three pick earlier in the year, Bailey’s draft stock became a lightning rod of speculation in the weeks leading up to the draft. He canceled a scheduled visit to Philadelphia and became the only prominent American prospect to bypass team workouts entirely.

Despite the lack of pre-draft contact, Bailey said he’s ready to embrace the challenge in Utah.

“I feel like once I come in, it’s going to be a lot of work,” he said. “I feel like I’m a person that likes to work out a lot. I’m going to push my teammates to be the best they can be. I want to come in and be a leader as a young cat.”

Trail Blazers

Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin wasn’t guessing when he called Hansen Yang’s name with the 16th pick on Wednesday night. He had been tracking the 7-foot-2 Chinese center for nearly two years, per The Oregonian’s Aaron Fentress.

“This wasn’t a last-minute thing,” Cronin said. “His ceiling is very high.”

Yang, the Chinese Basketball Association’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2024, is widely considered a developmental prospect, but Cronin and the Blazers believe his blend of size and skill makes him a worthwhile long-term play.

“It’s extremely difficult to find a young player of that stature with this skillset,” Cronin said. “It’s translatable stuff — we’ve seen really, really skilled big men that can do all the things that he can do typically succeed in our league. Yeah, it might take him a little time, but as he figures out the speed and pace of our game, I wouldn’t put a ceiling on him. He’s that talented.”

The Blazers reportedly considered trade-down options but ultimately stayed at No. 16 out of concern that Yang wouldn’t be there much longer. Cronin hinted that other teams had begun circling.

“We weren’t comfortable going back any further,” he said.

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