{"id":90306,"date":"2024-08-13T20:11:15","date_gmt":"2024-08-14T00:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=90306"},"modified":"2024-08-13T20:11:15","modified_gmt":"2024-08-14T00:11:15","slug":"nba-cup-los-angeles-clippers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/13\/nba-cup-los-angeles-clippers\/","title":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Clippers: Emirates NBA Cup Schedule Announced"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the 2023-2024 NBA season, the NBA introduced a new in-season tournament, similar to European football. The NBA&#8217;s tournament received mixed reviews, but overall, many favored the new mid-season event. With the Los Angeles Lakers winning the inaugural NBA Cup last season, the new-look <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/20\/los-angeles-clippers-pretenders-or-contenders-in-2024-25-one-nba-owner-believes-the-latter\/\" target=\"_self\">Los Angeles Clippers<\/a> will look to try to hang their first banner in the Inuit dome.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Los Angeles Clippers: Emirates NBA Cup Schedule Announced<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3>Clippers Offseason Review<\/h3>\n<p>The Los Angeles Clippers reworked their roster in the 2024 offseason. The Clippers have 11 players returning, with seven of those players playing in over half of the Clippers&#8217; games. Of those seven players, only four started in over 15 games. The Clippers will rely heavily on former MVP <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hardeja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">James Harden<\/a> and two-time Finals MVP <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/leonaka01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kawhi Leonard<\/a>.\u00a0 For the first time since the 2018-2019 NBA season, the Clippers will be without <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/georgpa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paul George<\/a>, who went to the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency.\u00a0 As a result, the Clippers added more depth, signing guards <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/porteke02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Porter Jr.<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/dunnkr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kris Dunn<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/18\/clippers-complete-kris-dunn-sign-and-trade-with-jazz-former-nba-mvp-to-be-waived-by-utah-for-2nd-time\/\" target=\"_self\">Dunn via sign-and-trade<\/a>). The Clippers also brought in former top-10 pick <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bambamo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mo Bamba<\/a> and brought back former Clipper and fan favorite <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/batumni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nicolas Batum<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>LAC @ HOU 11\/15<\/h3>\n<p>The Clippers will compete in the <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/news\/emirates-nba-cup-2024-group-play-schedule\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">&#8220;West A&#8221; group<\/a> of the NBA Cup, which kicks off November 12th, but the Clippers will have to wait a few more days, as they are scheduled to play the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/29\/can-new-houston-rockets-rookie-sheppard-team-to-success\/\" target=\"_self\">Houston Rockets<\/a> at the Toyota Center. The game will be played on Friday, November 15.\u00a0 Houston is led by young stars <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greenja05.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Green<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sengual01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alperen Sengun<\/a>, as well as third overall pick <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/reed-sheppard-2.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Reed Sheppard<\/a>. Additionally, Houston has seasoned veterans and former Clipper <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greenje02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeff Green<\/a> on its roster. The Clippers won the season series against the Rockets 2-1 last season, with the Rockets win coming without George, Leonard, or Harden playing.<\/p>\n<h3>SAC @ LAC 11\/22<\/h3>\n<p>A week later, the Clippers will be in the Intuit Dome to face the Sacramento Kings. This will be the Clippers&#8217; second game in the group stage of the NBA Cup. This offseason, the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/06\/bulls-star-lands-with-sacramento-kings-through-sign-and-trade\/\" target=\"_self\">Kings added a third star<\/a> to pair alongside <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/foxde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">De&#8217;Aaron Fox<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sabondo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Domantas Sabonis<\/a>, in six-time All-Star <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/derozde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DeMar DeRozan<\/a> from the Chicago Bulls. Sacramento missed the playoffs by one game last season, and are looking to make a deep playoff run this season. The Kings and the Clippers both won two games against each other last season, and should be competitive once again this season.<\/p>\n<h3>LAC @ MIN 11\/29<\/h3>\n<p>On Friday, November 29, the Clippers will travel to Minnesota to face the Timberwolves for their third NBA Cup game.\u00a0 Minnesota has one of the best young cores in the NBA, built around <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/edwaran01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Edwards<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/townska01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a>.\u00a0 The Timberwolves surprised many NBA fans by reaching the Western Conference Finals last season, and are the biggest threat to the Clippers in their group.\u00a0 New acquisition Kris Dunn should help slow down Edwards, and rotating <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/z\/zubaciv01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ivica Zubac<\/a> and Mo Bamba should help contain Towns.\u00a0 Last season, Minnesota took the season series 3-1, with the Clippers lone win by just one point.<\/p>\n<h3>POR @ LAC 12\/3<\/h3>\n<p>The Clippers will finish NBA Cup group play on Tuesday, December 3, at home against the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/30\/2024-nba-off-season-preview-whats-next-for-the-trail-blazers\/\" target=\"_self\">Portland Trail Blazers<\/a>. Portland was a bottom-five team in the NBA last season, and their roster got younger after trading away <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brogdma01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Malcolm Brogdon<\/a>. With the Trail Blazers committing to a rebuild, forwards <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/grantje01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jerami Grant<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/thybuma01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matisse Thybulle<\/a> could be traded, and the Clippers could potentially target either of them. The Clippers swept the season series against the Trail Blazers last season, and should match up well against them again this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the 2023-2024 NBA season, the NBA introduced a new in-season tournament, similar to European football. The NBA&#8217;s tournament received mixed reviews, but overall, many favored the new mid-season event. With the Los Angeles Lakers winning the inaugural NBA Cup last season, the new-look Los Angeles Clippers will look to try to hang their first [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5161,"featured_media":90349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,27,62],"tags":[444,168,49004],"class_list":["post-90306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-clippers","category-nba","tag-james-harden","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-nba-in-season-tournament"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}