The Los Angeles Clippers want to win, and they want to do so in their new arena, the Intuit Dome, which opens in Inglewood, California, for the 2024-25 season.
The Clippers are set to bring back 10-time All-Star guard James Harden on a two-year, $70 million contract to keep their playoff hopes alive into May and possibly June, a person familiar with the deal told USA Today Sports.
The person requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly until the deal is formalized.
The Clippers finished with a 51-31 record and lost in six games in the first round of the playoffs to the eventual Western Conference champions, the Dallas Mavericks.
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The 34-year-old Harden averaged 16.1 points, 8.5 assists and 5.1 rebounds while shooting 42.8 percent from the field and 38.1 percent from 3-point range. Against the Mavericks, he averaged 21.2 points, eight assists and four rebounds while shooting 44.9 percent from the field and 38.3 percent from 3-point range.
The Clippers have other things to do. Paul George is a free agent and it’s becoming increasingly likely that the Clippers will try to trade Russell Westbrook, who exercised the $4 million player option on his contract for the 2024-25 season.
In May, the Clippers signed head coach Ty Lue to a contract extension, making him one of the league’s highest-paid coaches at more than $10 million per season.
The Intuit Dome is a $2 billion arena that could potentially be the basketball venue for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. But first, the Clippers want to host playoff basketball at the arena, with Harden at the helm.