Los Angeles Clippers’ reluctance to add another center is strange

The Los Angeles Clippers have not stopped adding depth to the roster but keep ignoring an area that could be a potential problem.

There is no such thing as too much depth, especially in the NBA, where the grind of the regular season can really wear down a team. The Los Angeles Clippers know this and have continued to add depth to the roster.

The Clippers continue to make moves and signed forward Terry Larrier to a training camp contract on Saturday, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic. Larrier is going to get his chance to compete for a roster spot on a team that is already very heavy at the forward position.

There is nothing wrong with adding more competition with the roster to not only make the other guys play at a higher level but to keep the possibility of a hidden gem in play. It is hard to critique the Los Angeles Clippers using that logic.

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However, while the team has been very proactive in adding depth in that area of the roster, the team has not taken the same approach at the center position. Right now, the only true center on the team is Ivica Zubac.

Montrezl Harrell can play center and rookie Mfioundo Kabengele is listed as the team’s backup center on ESPN’s unofficial depth chart. The problem here is that Harrell might also be spending time at the four and Kabengele is a second-round draft pick that didn’t even play center in college.

Realistically, the Clippers could make it work with a two-man rotation of Zubac and Harrell with a smaller lineup if absolutely needed in certain points of the game. However, that is not a recipe that is going to bode in an 82-game regular season when the guys start to wear and the team needs more bodies.

What happens if Zubac or Harrell get hurt? The Clippers would be screwed and would be scrambling for whatever lesser option is still on the market.

Plus, the Clippers are putting a lot of faith in Zubac this season. Zubac has only started 48 games in his three-year NBA career and 25 of those starts came after he got traded to the Clippers last season.

Zubac played on a Los Angeles Lakers team that never really even sniffed the playoffs and didn’t even play much in the team’s playoff series against the Golden State Warriors. He was good in the one game that he got extended minutes in but that also happened to be a blowout loss for LA.

Zubac is still unproven and completely relying on him to anchor down the position alongside Harrell, on a title-contending team nonetheless, is an extremely big ask by the front office.

Does this mean that he will ultimately fail? Not at all. However, the Los Angeles Clippers definitely are skating on very thin ice with the way that they have approached the position this offseason.

Let’s hope for the best and hope that Zubac can make the proper progressions as well as stay healthy. Because if not, it is going to be quite the challenge for the Clippers.