The Los Angeles Clippers made some surprising moves at the trade deadline, despite being in the midst of a heated playoff race. Sending out leading scorer Tobias Harris and bringing in young prospects looked to be a signal that the Clippers would look more towards the future.
That hasn’t proven to be the case, however, as the Clippers have remained in a playoff spot, proving to be more competitive than the team’s in-city rival, the Los Angeles Lakers. Ivica Zubac, who was traded from the Lakers to the Clippers at the deadline, has noticed some apparent differences between his former and current teams.
According to Mirjam Swanson of the Orange County Register, the young Croatian center has noticed that the Clippers are more “locked in” and stated the Lakers “never had games like this” after the Clippers crushed the New York Knicks on Sunday:
Zubac after the Clips took care of business vs. the Knicks: “That’s how we gotta be. When I was with the Lakers, we didn’t have nights like this. Every game was a close game for us, but now with the Clippers, this team is really locked in, every possession against every team.”
— Mirjam Swanson (@MirjamSwanson) March 3, 2019
The Clippers, who now sit at 36-29 and seventh place in the hotly contested Western Conference, will be looking to return to the playoffs after barely missing out last season. The Lakers, meanwhile, sit at 30-33 and just 10th in the West with their recent struggles and may be missing out on the postseason despite high expectations prior to the season.
It may have seemed far-fetched at the time, but Patrick Beverley may have been right; the Clippers might just be the best team in Los Angeles.
