Nick Crain | 2/13/23

Since 2016 Eric Gordon has been a staple within the Houston Rockets offense. Over the past several seasons, however, the Rockets have been going through a rebuild and prioritizing the development of their younger prospects. Even then, Gordon remained a consistent veteran in the locker room.

But now that’s old news. Last week Gordon was traded to the LA Clippers at trade deadline with a move that signified the end of the longest tenured Rocket to a title contender. While he’s the perfect piece for the Clippers on paper, his actual fit on the 15-man roster is hard to predict until he takes the floor….unless you’re ProFitX. The Athledex database is able to help provide clarity on what a Gordon tenure could look like in Los Angeles. Leveraging the advanced models within the Athledex, we can quickly see how he is projected to fit on his new team and which individual teammates he could have the most synergy with.

The Clippers are a wing-oriented team, meaning Gordon will have to be a natural fit as an off-ball guard alongside those types of players. Based on ProFitX models, those wing archetypes are actually the group of players he’s predicted to have the most individual synergy with. As such, there should be optimism that he can fit alongside the starters or reserves at any given time.

On the offensive end, Gordon projects to be slightly less impactful than he was in Houston. With that in mind, that isn’t necessarily an indicator of bad fit, but more so the role he’ll fit within the roster. On many nights with the Rockets, he was a starter and primary scoring option while on a more complete team like the Clippers, his role will be quite a bit different.

Defensively, the story is the same. This is likely because he will have to defend smaller, quicker guards given how forward heavy the Clippers’ roster is. While Gordon isn’t known for being a lockdown defender at this point in his career, he will have to showcase upside on that end.

Gordon will have the ball in his hands quite a bit when on the floor, as he’ll look to be more than just a floor spacer. He will have the potential to be a facilitator in Los Angeles, being surrounded by elite talent on the perimeter. He likely won’t be a primary distributor, but could be asked to create some for others.

Overall, this could be quite a transition for Gordon. It’s not easy to go from one of the youngest teams in the NBA that’s going through growing pains to a team that’s looking to win it all this season. He will have to let the game come to him and learn to adapt to what the Clippers need on a nightly basis.