Apart from their star Kawhi Leonard’s failure to fully show up for the LA Clippers in the playoffs, the second loose end of Tyronn Lue’s squad was it lacked protection on the defensive side. With a defensive rebound percentage of 68.3%, Ballmer’s Clippers could not make it past the first round, as the Mavs tested their ability to defend the rim in a 4-2 sweep. However, the latest trade with the Utah Jazz has strengthened their foothold on the perimeter, signing Kris Dunn as the reserve point guard, aiding their vet James Harden.

As per NBA insider Michael Scotto of the HoopsHype, the LA franchise has signed Kris Dunn to a 3-year, $16.28 million deal, which is non-guaranteed for Year 3. So, Dunn has about $11 million in guaranteed money with about $5.5 million as the average annual payout. Also, “Year 3 can become fully guaranteed if Dunn is named to All-Defensive First or Second Team during the 2024-25 or 2025-26 season.“ From the looks of it, the Clippers are putting their trust in Dunn’s experience and backing his abilities over the mid-term.

The Clippers point guard was quite productive for Utah last season as he averaged 5.4 points, clocking just under 4 assists and 2.9 rebounds in 18.9 minutes every game. With Kris Dunn, Derrick Jones Jr., and Nicolas Batum’s inclusion, the Clippers have put together a fairly competitive team with defensive upgrades. However, the team might face repercussions in the future considering the tight first apron cap and injury woes that troubled the team in April this year.

LA Clippers: salary cap, roster, and depth chart after Kris Dunn trade

The LA Clippers had an estimated $6 million in cap space before Kris Dunn’s inclusion. However, with the new point guard’s arrival at about $5.5 million average salary, they are still below the first apron [$178.1 million] by $4.6 million for next season. However, the Clippers are in much better condition now, financially. They would stay in the repeater tax domain if they retained Paul George, getting hit by the 2nd apron penalties. But they’ve reportedly given away multiple first-round picks for James Harden, absolutely diminishing their hopes of recruiting top talents till 2030.

So after Kris Dunn’s addition to the bench, the Clippers’ roster might look like this, including all their offseason moves.

On the bench, Kris Dunn’s presence ensured a perimeter defensive boost with second-unit players like Kevin Porter Jr., Mo Bamba, Bones Hyland, Cam Christie, Norman Powell, Amir Coffey, P.J. Tucker, Nicolas Batum, and Kai Jones.

The current structure of the Clippers, along with Dunn, cannot be deemed a fair playoff contender yet. Nevertheless, if any injury woes hit again, as they got hit in April after Kawhi was ruled out of the first round of playoffs against the Dallas Mavericks, chaos might prevail. Even in 2021, Leonard missed the Western Conference Semi-Finals due to a torn ACL. So the injury woes cannot be completely ignored considering the lack of young, promising players.

The only immediate hope that the Clippers got was with Paul George and James Harden, which crumbled immediately after the team had to let go of PG13 in free agency. So far, the Clippers lack any reliable stars and don’t have hope of getting future top talents for about five years. What’s your stance on all the off-season moves that Clippers made this season? Even if Kris Dunn is a great addition to the defense and bench, can the Clippers go all the way? Let us know in the comments.