Draymond Green: Brandon Ingram Can Benefit From Clippers' Misery, Teams Shouldn't Underestimate Them
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The Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green recently recorded an episode of his podcast, ‘The Draymond Green Show,’ in which he previewed the Clippers’ upcoming season after the salary cap circumvention scandal that led them to forfeit five first-round picks.
Amid the impending Kawhi Leonard-Raptors trade, Green believes Brandon Ingram could be an X-factor for the Clippers this season despite the team not having a bright future to look ahead to.
“If you’re Brandon Ingram, and you’re going to this situation, you’re trying to ball because when you look at the situation that’s now left behind, it’s not a good one; it’s f**king awful, actually, and this team, they have no future; you’re talking future maybe ten years down the road,” Green said candidly.
“So if you’re Brandon Ingram, you’re like, ‘Alright, I’m in Los Angeles, what can I do in this situation?’ You can go be an All-Star again, you can go dominate, and ultimately put yourself in a position where the Clippers can trade you somewhere that needs you, and they can acquire some picks cause they need picks, and they don’t have any.”
“And this is an opportunity for [Brandon Ingram] to do that next to Darius Garland. Cause if you’re those guys, you have to know that if I raise my value, they’re going to trade me because they need picks. They need picks, and they don’t have any.”
“This is going to be a tough game on your schedule every time you play this team. And so with those guys, I think that needs to be their mindset heading into it,” Green concluded.
Brandon Ingram is coming off a 2025-26 season where he earned his second All-Star selection. He averaged 21.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 3.7 assists while shooting 47.7% from the field and 38.2% from the three-point line.
Ingram is in the final guaranteed season of his contract and is set to earn $40 million in 2026-27. He has a $41.9 million player option for 2027-28, but he can use that as a backup option if things don’t go as well for him this season.
But if Ingram manages to pull off another All-Star season on the Clippers, he can almost certainly say that there will be a demand for him among championship-contending teams.
The Clippers are currently not expected to trade Brandon Ingram this year, but if the 29-year-old All-Star does not see a future for himself in Los Angeles after this season, he could simply refuse to pick up the player option and test free agency.
Having an All-Star season with the Clippers would certainly improve his chances of still being in demand among championship teams next summer.
Hence, I agree with Draymond Green that teams need to watch the Clippers this season because their players will want to navigate the best path out of the franchise for themselves, as even Darius Garland’s future remains uncertain.
So even though they would likely not contend for the championship, they could upset several teams with surprising losses in the regular season. It will certainly be interesting to keep an eye on the Clippers’ impending implosion after their salary cap circumvention punishment.