Donovan Clingan was considered a top talent in the weaker 2024 draft class due to an easily projected role, and high floor. Clingan’s rookie preview with the Trail Blazers is an intriguing one. He projects to have a specified role at the next level and should be an effective piece for a rebuilding team. Let’s take a look at Clingan’s rookie preview for the upcoming season.
NBA Rookie Preview: Donovan Clingan
Prospect Profile
Clingan was the 56th overall prospect in the 2022 class coming out of high school. He grew up in Bristol, Connecticut, and played for the local high school before signing with the hometown UConn Huskies. His college career would prove to be very successful as he would go to college for two years and win two national championships. Obviously, Clingan wasn’t alone on those championship runs and even played with the fourth overall pick Stephon Castle this past season.
Clingan is a seven-foot-two big man who’s naturally a massive interior presence. At 280 pounds, he’s about as solid as they come. He averaged 13.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, 0.5 steals, and 2.5 blocks per game in his sophomore season. Clingan has a clear projected role as a frontcourt anchor on the defensive and offensive side of the ball. He has great shot-blocking ability and is a good play-finisher on the interior. His overall touch and feel for the game have steadily improved throughout his career. Clingan isn’t the most agile prospect, and there are mobility concerns in the modern NBA. His measurements are eerily similar to those of Rudy Gobert, however. He averaged 13 points, 7.4 rebounds, 0.5 steals, and 2.5 blocks per game in his sophomore season.
Team Fit
When thinking of the Trail Blazers, many may become enamored with the plethora of young first-round picks at the guard positions. Anfernee Simons, Shaedon Sharpe, and Scoot Henderson have all shown promise with Simons being the oldest at just 25. There are also solid forwards on the roster like Jerami Grant and the newly acquired Deni Avdija. Even last year’s second-round pick Toumani Camara showed great promise at either forward position. One would assume that a classical center like Clingan is just what the Trail Blazers need to bring everything together. This is what makes Clingan’s rookie preview and selection at number seven overall intriguing. It’s true that the Blazers have young and promising talent at pretty much every other position, but they don’t have talent at center. With Clingan, there actually may be a logjam at the position.
Quality centers Deandre Ayton and Robert Williams are both a part of the Trail Blazers roster. Both are former first-round picks with Ayton being a former number one overall selection. They also were both starters on teams that played for NBA championship teams the Suns and Celtics respectively. This makes Clingan’s playing time an interesting point of conversation. Clingan is so solid within his role that he should receive the opportunity, but how much?
Predictions
As hinted at above, Clingan’s level of opportunity will determine the type of accolades he receives during his rookie season. From a front-office perspective, it’s probably in the best interest of the franchise to play Williams and Ayton in terms of trade value alone. The Blazers likely consider Clingan the long-term solution at center, but that means Ayton and Williams will need to be traded in the near future. It’s possible this will happen during the 2024-25 season, but at what point in time remains to be seen. The Blazers will likely let Ayton and Williams play the majority of center minutes solely for the purpose of building their trade value.
While this isn’t what’s best for Clingan’s rookie preview, his future is still bright. He will have time to develop, and when his opportunity arises, he will be ready to produce as he always has. If that opportunity presents itself this season with significant minutes, Clingan could be very impactful statistically. Playing with fast-paced, high-scoring guards will give him easy opportunities at the rim, and he should log double-digit rebounds in plenty of games. With other rookies likely to receive more opportunities, Clingan likely won’t be in rookie of the year conversations. However, both All-Rookie teams are on the table in my opinion due to Clingan’s baseline ability.
