LAS VEGAS — Brook Lopez grew up in Southern California. He remembers the days when the LA Clippers were awful.
Those years are long gone — and Lopez is betting that even better years are ahead.
Lopez discussed his decision to join the Clippers on a two-year contract worth nearly $18 million on Monday at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, raving about how far the once-woebegone franchise has come. The Clippers have posted 14 consecutive winning seasons, the longest active streak in the NBA.
“It’s crazy to see, but it’s very cool,” Lopez told reporters. “Seeing the climb, the ascent, I’m a Cali boy. I grew up in the valley in North Hollywood. Obviously, things were very different back then. And to see where the Clippers have come now, it’s just astonishing. It’s beautiful. I’m glad to be a part of it. And hopefully, I can help take them even further up.”
Lopez was born in 1988 and over the first 25 years of his life the Clippers had the NBA’s worst overall record. In the 12 years since, they have the league’s second-best record behind only Golden State. They play in a palace of a new arena, Intuit Dome, have stars like James Harden and Kawhi Leonard, have a title-winning coach in Tyronn Lue and have one of the league’s biggest-spending and most-committed owners in Steve Ballmer.
If all that wasn’t enough, the Clippers’ front office is run now by Lawrence Frank, who was Lopez’s first NBA coach with the then-New Jersey Nets.
“Definitely a full-circle moment,” Lopez said.
Lopez comes back to the Los Angeles area — he played for the Lakers in 2017-18 — after spending seven seasons with Milwaukee and helping the Bucks win a title. He averaged 13 points and 2.1 blocks per game in those seven seasons with the Bucks, and the 37-year-old has averaged 15.9 points in 17 NBA seasons.
He’s been a starter for basically his entire career, though may see a different role with the Clippers — already a staunch defensive team featuring defensive player of the year candidate and fellow 7-footer Ivica Zubac as the starting center.
“I think we complement each other extremely well,” Lopez said. “Obviously, we’ll be very big. I think we’ll be great defensively, just dominating the paint, sealing the paint off. And then offensively, we complement each other there as well. Spread the floor for him, give him all the room in the paint for him to go wild.”
There are some perks: He’s going home, and the well-known Disney enthusiast will be playing his home games about a half-hour drive from Disneyland. But the biggest perk, Lopez thinks, is joining a team that he believes is good enough to contend for a title.
“The money’s nice, but that’s not what it’s about for me,” Lopez said. “I love playing, I love hooping, I’ve loved it since I was a little kid. I watched my older brothers play. I’ve just always been around it and I love winning just as much. I just want to keep winning. I got a great taste for it in Milwaukee and these guys are all about that here and I’m all about it. So, it’s a perfect fit.”
