The Los Angeles Clippers have got their fan base excited for the 2025-26 season by making several key additions to the roster this offseason. Bradley Beal, Brook Lopez, Chris Paul, and John Collins are in, and they’re now being viewed as a contender in the Western Conference.
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However, it is no secret what the Clippers will lack this upcoming season: Youth. With an average roster age of 33.2, they will break the record for the oldest roster since the 2000-01 Utah Jazz. Clearly, the team has targeted veterans who have late-season experience and know how to produce in the playoffs. Yet, will this strategy pay off?
Kendrick Perkins, for instance, highlighted this noticeable flaw. However, he admitted that there might have once been a time when he’d fall in love with the Clippers.
“Five, six years ago, I probably would be all in on the Clippers, back when they had the term, ‘Vets matter.’ Vets don’t matter anymore,” Perkins said on NBA Today.
The take perked up the eyebrows of his co-hosts, mainly because veterans have always been seen as key inclusions for any championship roster. However, Perkins seems to think that the OKC Thunder winning it all with the second youngest average age in NBA history has cemented a new reality around the league.
Perkins also doesn’t think these young squads are going to let up any time soon.
“These young boys around the league, their opponents. It’s the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Houston Rockets, the Detroit Pistons, whoever; they don’t give a damn. They don’t respect the older guys, and they shouldn’t. They’re going to go at them,” Perkins pointed out.
The former Thunder center then raised some interesting questions. “My issue with the Clippers is not only just their health, but their age when it comes [to] postseason time,” said Perkins.
“Can a James Harden, can a Bradley Beal, can a Kawhi Leonard slide those puppies on the perimeter and get stops in an elite conference where you have so many dynamic players?” he questioned.
They’re good questions to ask. It’s going to take a lot of effort and durability from the older fellas to survive the entire regular season and still have enough in the tank for the playoffs. On paper, Kawhi, Harden, Beal, Paul, and Lopez sound awesome defensively. But will they be able to compete with the younger, quicker players in the playoffs when it comes time?
While time will reveal how things pan out, Perk is confident of his take. “I’m not in on the Clippers. Their age is just too old. Vets don’t matter no more,” he said.
It’s a bit of an egregious take from the big man. He raises fine questions about health and long-term stamina. But veterans are still totally important in the NBA.
Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein were both key players for OKC during the playoffs, despite their roster being so young. That’s why Iman Shumpert called out his co-host, saying that he wouldn’t go as far as to say that vets straight up don’t matter.
However, Shumpert too thinks questions about health are fair game. It’s the reason why he can’t go all in on the Clippers as of now.
“Can you get those guys to all be healthy, all be on one accord toward the end? I think that’s been the problem with them in the last couple of years… I can’t get too excited,” Shumpert said.
All in all, it’s hard to disagree with Perkins and Shumpert. The Clippers have made some interesting additions, but it’s hard to say if they’ll survive long-term or not.
We tend to think they’ll have a solid regular season and then eventually bow out in the postseason like they always do.
It’s just a tough Western Conference landscape right now. The Thunder are entering their prime years, the Rockets made a blockbuster move for Kevin Durant, and the Denver Nuggets even made some key trades. It’s hard to get on board with an old Clippers team that hasn’t shown an ability to get it done yet.
