As the Portland Trail Blazers approach the Feb. 5 trade deadline, there are only three players they should consider to be truly untouchable: Deni Avdija, Damian Lillard, and Donovan Clingan. Deni is emerging as an All-Star on one of the best contracts in the association. Dame has a rare no-trade clause. Meanwhile, Clingan is becoming the ideal building block at the center position.
Coming out of UConn, we all knew Clingan was a monster defensively. He dominated the paint both in terms of rebounding and rim protection. At 7-foot-2, 280 pounds, he also had the physical tools to suggest that it would be more of the same interior dominance at the NBA level. That alone made Clingan one of the safest picks in the 2024 NBA Draft, especially since it was widely viewed to be weak with no true headliners.
Clingan was even in consideration for the No. 1 overall pick by the Atlanta Hawks. With the way the careers of Clingan and Zaccharie Risacher are trending early on, Atlanta should already be regretting their draft decision. In part, that's because Clingan is already proving his ceiling is higher than many expected.
Donovan Clingan is becoming the perfect starting center for Portland
Only in his second year, he's already making a significant two-way impact as a consistent floor spacer. This season, the UConn product is averaging 11.1 points, 10.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.4 blocks while shooting 53.8% from the field and 32.4% from downtown. That's a promising improvement from the 28.6% from deep he shot as a rookie, suggesting there's legitimate potential for Clingan to be one of those rare bigs who can both effectively protect the paint and space the floor. With the direction the league is trending in, those player archetypes are more valuable than ever.
That was one concern about Clingan entering the league: how would he fit into the pace-and-space style of the modern NBA? But he's already addressing that early in his career, evolving his offensive game in a Brook Lopez-like manner.
There are still times when Clingan's lateral mobility and drop coverage get exploited, as was the case in his recent matchup against Karl-Anthony Towns and the New York Knicks. But more often than not, Clingan's interior dominance proves to be an absolute matchup nightmare for opposing teams.
That's something we're looking forward to seeing play out in Portland's road matchup against the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday. The Blazers have already won all three previous matchups, and Clingan has been a significant reason why. He's too big and physical for their undersized frontcourt of Draymond Green and Quinten Post, as evidenced by a 22-point, 10-rebound, four-assist performance in their win on Nov. 21.
Blazers general manager Joe Cronin has wanted to establish a defensive identity built around size and physicality, and Clingan is almost singlehandedly bringing that vision to fruition. He's gone from a promising rookie to one of the more dominant bigs in the association in a matter of two seasons, developing in key areas such as his shooting and conditioning.
And thanks to these quick and surprising improvements, it's already apparent that the Blazers have secured their center of the future.