Steve Ballmer's One Move May Save Clippers Amid Surprise Jalen Duren Opportunity, Per Insider

In 2000, when David Stern stripped the Minnesota Timberwolves of five first-round picks for cap circumvention, the franchise had no answer. Minnesota's front office was thin, under-resourced, and spent the next decade cycling through executives who couldn't overcome the deficit. The Clippers were handed a harsher version of that exact penalty this month. The difference this time is the man who owns the team happens to be one of the wealthiest individuals on the planet — and, according to The Athletic's Sam Amick, that difference might actually matter. Watch What's Trending Now! Speaking on The Athletic NBA Daily, Amick laid out why the Clippers' structure gives them a real path forward despite losing five consecutive first-round picks. ADVERTISEMENT 'I chatted with our Clippers beat writer Law Murray about this the other day,' Amick said. 'I think he's going to be writing some of this. The glass-half-full part of it — which is a funny thing to say given the gravity of the punishment here — is that they have been in some form of this situation before. They have been dealing with a draft pick deficit since doing the Kawhi Leonard, Paul George deal back in 2019.' 'Trent Redden is the GM of the Clippers,' he continued. 'If people don't know Trent, came from the Cavs – very respected, very smart guy, has all the contacts you need to do this job at the highest level, has been in the running for multiple GM jobs, turned down GM jobs. Steve Ballmer has funded one of, if not the deepest, front offices in the NBA. They're pretty well equipped to continue doing business in that regard. We know they're creative with the cap.' ADVERTISEMENT Redden, hired away from Cleveland's front office, has been consistently linked to head GM openings across the league. He has reportedly turned down opportunities to become the top decision-maker elsewhere, a level of institutional loyalty and stability that isn't guaranteed for most franchises navigating a scandal of this scale. Amick's stated that operational competence and draft-pick scarcity are two separate problems. The Clippers, thanks specifically to how Steve Ballmer has staffed the building. ADVERTISEMENT Duren, a restricted free agent center, has drawn interest across the league. He represents the kind of star-caliber free agent addition the Clippers' deep-pocketed, well-connected front office is built to pursue once cap flexibility opens up. 'I do think the cap space — they're going to be a team that, if I'm Jalen Duren, maybe I'm signing that qualifying offer, because I know that the Clippers' only path to being competitive is to throw big money at people when they get it,' the host said. 'Garland and Duren wouldn't be bad, actually.' ADVERTISEMENT Speculation has floated a sign-and-trade proposal: Detroit sending Duren to LA in exchange for Darius Garland, in case the Pistons decide they'd rather trade him now than risk losing him for nothing in 2027. Lue has already proven capable of winning games without Kawhi Leonard in the lineup for extended stretches. And with Leonard now traded to Toronto, that experience becomes relevant again this season.