The Los Angeles Clippers are in a new era. The 2024/25 season features many different looks for LA including a very different roster and brand new arena.
Maybe you have been following the Clippers since the beginning, back in 1970 as the Buffalo Braves. Maybe you fell in love with the team in the 2010s behind the star power of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.
Whether this is your first year or fifty-fourth year following the team, this “Meet The Clippers” series is set to introduce you to the 2024/25 team from a whole new perspective.
For the next however many days, there will be an interaction with each member of the Clippers team to bring some familiarity to this new era.
The fourth Clipper in this series is an emerging star in the NBA this season: Norman Powell.
Pre-NBA Norman Powell
Norman Powell was born on May 25th, 1993 in San Diego, California. Powell attended Abraham Lincoln High School in San Diego where he would be considered a 4-star recruit and the 52nd overall recruit according to ESPN and 53rd according to RSCI.
Norman would be pursued by San Diego State, Oregon, Arizona State, and Arizona before deciding on becoming a member of the UCLA Bruins Class of 2011.
Powell ended up spending four years with the Bruins where he would make the NCAA tournament in all but his freshmen year.
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Powell’s first time in March Madness ended in a loss to Florida in the Second Round. The Bruins lost in the Regional Semifinals in his Junior and Senior years.
Powell developed into a leader by the time he became a Senior being named with All-Pac12 1st team honors.
He would average 9.8 points, 1.1 steals, and 3.0 rebounds per game during his time as a Bruin.
NBA History
Norman Powell was selected with the 46th overall pick (16th pick in the 2nd round) by the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks immediately traded him to the Toronto Raptors with a future 2017 1st-round pick (later became OG Anunoby) for Greivis Vásquez.
During his 1st year in Toronto, Powell played 49 total games for the Raptors and 8 games for the 905s in the G League.
Powell dominated in the G League where he rose to the status of a full-time role player for Toronto where he eventually started 24 games for them in the 2015-16 season. In 2017, Powell would sign a multi-year contract to stay a part of the Raptors’ organization.
The first four years of Powell’s career were quiet on the stat sheet, yet success would find him in the 2018-19 season where he won his first NBA Championship with future Clipper Kawhi Leonard.
Kawhi would leave the Raptors following that season leaving Norm Powell as one of the faces of the Raptors franchise. He would step up for the next season and a half for the Raptors averaging more than 16 points a game.
On March 21st of the 2020-21 season, the Toronto Raptors sent Norman Powell to the Portland Trail Blazers for Rodney Hood and Gary Trent Jr. He found some success alongside Damian Lillard where he would sign an extension in the summer of 2021.
Yet, his time in Portland would not last long as on February 4th of 2022, the Blazers would send Norman Powell and Robert Covington to the Los Angeles Clippers for Eric Bledsoe, Keon Johnson, Justice Winslow, and a future 2025 2nd-round pick.
Powell reunited with his former teammate Kawhi Leonard in LA. He became the 6th man during his first few years in LA placing 4th in the 6th Man of the Year voting in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. He found tremendous success on the bench which enriched his time in LA.
Norman Powell Now
What can you expect from Norman Powell this season? A surprising turn into a potential all-star.
He has SHINED in the absence of Kawhi Leonard dealing with a knee injury. Powell has shot tremendously from 3-point land where he is shooting a career-high amount of 3’s and has the highest shooting percentage behind the arc through 13 games this season.
His offensive skills have kept the Clippers afloat during a time without a perennial all-star.
Powell’s biggest performance this season came against the Denver Nuggets where he made 7 3-pointers and had a total of 37 points. He is averaging 23.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.2 steals, and 2.5 assists per game.
If Norman Powell continues this level of scoring and tenacity the entire season, the Clippers could find themselves with a very interesting Big 3 in LA.