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Par Pierre-Andréa Fraile | Journaliste sportif
Still invaluable to his team at the age of 36, Nicolas Batum was unable to prevent the Clippers’ premature end to the season. His future with the franchise and in the NBA is now in question, and has been clarified in recent hours.
Buoyed by their strong finish to the regular season, the Clippers were understandably very ambitious. According to many observers, the Clippers were, after all, the main scarecrows of the Western Conference along with the Thunder. However, this praise did not bring them luck, as they lost to the Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs. A disappointment that leaves room for doubt.
Stop or start again? Nicolas Batum at the heart of Clippers debates
Accustomed to failing during the postseason in recent years, the Clippers are bound to be wondering what course to take this summer. Should they shake up their roster, or continue to rely on their core players? The franchise’s president of basketball operations, Lawrence Frank, has made up his mind in recent hours at a press conference. And Tomer Azarly reports for ClutchPoints:
Tomer Azarly: Lawrence Frank has indicated that the priorities for the Clippers heading into the off-season are the options of James Harden and Nicolas Batum. He states that the other cases will be based on their decision.
So it would seem that continuity is the order of the day for the Clips, despite their recent setback.
This applies in particular to Nicolas Batum, who has a player option and could therefore leave Los Angeles freely during the off-season. A scenario that Frank dreads, even regretting having to part with him temporarily in 2023:
Lawrence Frank: Of course we hope Nico stays here, 1000%. You know, the day we had to include him in the trade involving James Harden was a very, very, very dark day for all of us.
The Angeleno executive is keeping his fingers crossed that the veteran Frenchman won’t be looking elsewhere this summer. Unless, as he approaches his 37th birthday, he is thinking of hanging up his sneakers, something he was already thinking about a few months ago. However, it would appear that this is no longer on his agenda. At least, that’s what Tomer Azarly says on X :
Tomer Azarly: Despite the fact that he considered retiring last off-season, and knowing that he has a player option for the 2025-26 season, Nicolas Batum is expected to continue with the Clippers this summer.
This will undoubtedly delight managers, fans and team-mates of the former France international, all of whom are under the spell of his game and profile.
