Celtics trade proposal lands Ivica Zubac from crumbling Clippers

The Los Angeles Clippers are a mess of a franchise right now, and this is the kind of mess that will take years to dig themselves out of. The Chris Paul saga is just a symptom of the Clippers’ growing dysfunction, and it’s not like they’re winning a ton of games to make up for how badly they’re being perceived off the court.

Paul was sent home earlier this week for being a nuisance in the Clippers locker room, challenging Lue’s coaching and calling out the front office. Some think he’s holding the franchise accountable; some believe he’s being unnecessarily cranky amid the Clippers’ difficult season in what should have been a triumphant farewell tour for one of the team’s best players in history.

Heading into the Clippers’ clash against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night, they have a 6-16 record on the year. That would have been nice if they owned their 2026 first-round pick, but they owe it in unprotected fashion to the Oklahoma City Thunder courtesy of the Paul George trade back in 2019.

This would suggest that the Clippers would want to go for it until the very end, squeezing every last drop of production from their core trio of Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, and Ivica Zubac. But if LA fails to right the ship soon, they may want to get ahead of the rebuilding process and blow it all up — conveying a high first-round pick to OKC without much of a fight.

To that end, perhaps someone like Zubac would be available for trade — with the Boston Celtics, a team starting Neemias Queta at center, ready to address their center woes.

Celtics get Clippers’ Ivica Zubac in preparation for Jayson Tatum’s return

Celtics trade: Anfernee Simons, Payton Pritchard, Hugo Gonzalez, 2026 BOS first-round pick

Clippers trade: Ivica Zubac, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Chris Paul

The Clippers have reportedly expressed interest in trading for Simons in the past, so this deal would finally allow them to get a deal done. Simons is a must-include in any trade scenarios for the Celtics involving Zubac for salary-matching purposes, and as it is, he’s the team’s most expendable player.

Boston acquired Simons in the Jrue Holiday trade this past offseason, and his deal will be expiring at the end of the season — giving the Clippers room for some major salary relief for next season which could come in handy if they would truly decide to blow things up. If they trade Harden as well, then Simons is coming in to be the starting point guard of a team yet again, helping him bounce back and build his value back up amid a down year coming off the bench in Boston.

But this is where it gets difficult for the Celtics. Simons alone will not get the job done in a Zubac trade, especially when he’s not been as good this year as in years past. This is what would necessitate the inclusion of Payton Pritchard, who’s doing a good job in his first season as a starting point guard.

Pritchard’s efficiency hasn’t been the best, but he’s a guard averaging 17.3 points on nearly 45 percent shooting from the field. And to make matters better, he’s just going to be making around $23.2 million over the next three seasons — a huge bargain for his production.

If nothing else, Pritchard would be a valuable trade chip for a Clippers team in dire need of restocking the cupboard. The Celtics will understandably be hesitant to trade Pritchard away, but they’re not going to get Zubac for the low price of Simons and one first-round pick — especially when the Clippers center himself is locked into a team-friendly deal that will run until the 2027-28 season.

Zubac hasn’t been as good this year as he was last year, but this is a guy who’s an automatic bucket around the hoop and has anchored elite defenses in years past. In Boston, he’s going to have the defenders around him to anchor yet another excellent defense. As it stands, the Celtics rank 16th in points allowed per 100 possessions, and Zubac’s arrival would give them a legitimate interior presence on both ends of the floor — no offense to Queta.

Queta can be a monster on the glass, but he doesn’t provide nearly as much consistency as Zubac does on the scoring and rebounding front. Zubac is currently averaging 16.2 points and 11.8 rebounds per game on 60.3 percent shooting from the field, numbers that dwarf Queta’s. Queta would be an incredible backup center to have, and Zubac’s arrival would give the Celtics a formidable center rotation.

Now, losing Simons and Pritchard may be untenable for the Celtics. This leaves Boston with Derrick White as the primary point guard. Thus, Paul would be a helpful acquisition as a stopgap backup point guard who can at least play some useful minutes for Joe Mazzulla’s squad for the rest of his farewell tour.

This would take him so far away from his hometown of Los Angeles, but the Celtics will be able to give him minutes, a chance to ruffle feathers from their bench, and an opportunity to prop up an underdog team that’s missing Tatum’s services badly.

Bogdan Bogdanovic will also be going to Beantown in this trade, adding more ballhandling and shooting to the Celtics bench. His contract will be expiring at the end of next season, so heading into the offseason, he’ll be a useful expiring whom Boston can trade for a backup point guard. He can even be re-routed to another team if Boston wants more insurance in their point guard rotation after losing Simons and Pritchard in this scenario.

The Clippers are in dire need of some young talent infusion, so they’ll be looking to acquire Boston’s 2026 first-round pick — their selection in the Tatum gap year. Hugo Gonzalez, the Celtics’ 2025 first-round pick (28th overall), will also be heading to LA. Gonzalez has shown potential, but with the likes of Sam Hauser, Baylor Scheierman, Jordan Walsh, and Josh Minott on the roster, the Celtics don’t exactly need him for right now.

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