At 1-7, the Clippers Are Already Being Eyed as Sellers — and Their Veterans Are Drawing Attention

The Los Angeles Clippers have played eight games, won one of them, and already the rest of the league is circling.

It is not even mid-November, and the Clippers are being talked about the way struggling teams usually get talked about in January — as a shop, not a contender. ESPN's Tim MacMahon reported on Thursday that multiple scouts and league executives are keeping an eye on the Clippers as likely sellers when trade season heats up, and the reason is sitting right there in the standings: a 1-7 record, tied for the worst in the NBA, and seven consecutive defeats since a season-opening win over Sacramento.

"It's way too early for trade discussions to pick up steam," MacMahon wrote, "but multiple scouts and executives are keeping an eye on the LA Clippers as likely sellers. The Clippers, who are off to a league-worst-tying 1-7 start, have a handful of impact veterans on expiring contracts."

That last part is what makes the Clippers different from an ordinary slow starter. This is a roster built, almost by accident, to be dismantled. Center Brook Lopez, guard Kris Dunn and wings Max Strus and Derrick Jones Jr. are all on expiring deals, and forward Rui Hachimura carries a $14 million team option for next season. All five could fill a real role on a playoff team, and all five are playing well enough to make a phone call worth making. Lopez is averaging 13.5 points and 5.1 rebounds while shooting 56 percent from the field and 42.3 percent from deep. Dunn has started all eight games, contributing 8.5 points, 4.5 assists and 2.8 steals a night. Jones is at 11.6 points and 5.3 rebounds and is hitting half his three-pointers. Hachimura is putting up 14.7 points and 6.5 rebounds.

None of this happened in a vacuum. The Clippers have been turning the page for a while now. They traded Ivica Zubac before last season's deadline, and Kawhi Leonard was moved over the summer. Then came the league's discipline over salary-cap circumvention involving endorsement deals given to Leonard, a punishment that cost the franchise draft capital and left president Lawrence Frank and owner Steve Ballmer suspended until after the trade deadline. A team that once chased championships with one of the league's most expensive rosters now has one win, a thin cupboard of picks, and a group of useful veterans other teams would happily rent.

The Clippers have not said any of this out loud. They have made no public commitment to a rebuild and have confirmed no plans to move anyone. That is the honest caveat here, and it matters: November sellers are usually a rumour before they are a reality, and a hot week can change the whole conversation. Brandon Ingram, acquired in the offseason, is back playing five-on-five as he works his way back from Achilles surgery, and his return could give the roster a shape it has not had yet.

But the math is getting harder to ignore. The Clippers rank 21st in net rating, they are one of five teams with a single victory, and their most recent loss — a 117-116 heartbreaker to Miami on Wednesday — followed the same script as the ones before it: close enough to hurt, not good enough to win. The trade deadline is still months away, and February feels a long way off when you are 1-7 in November. Around the league, though, the waiting has already started. The Clippers may not be selling yet. Everyone else is already browsing.