Clippers James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Ivica Zubac react to Terance Mann trade
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The Los Angeles Clippers traded away their longest tenured player at the NBA trade deadline. Terance Mann’s departure drew responses from former teammates like James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, and Ivica Zubac.
Mann spent his first five seasons with the LA Clippers before being traded in the middle of his sixth season.
James Harden, Ivica Zubac, Kawhi Leonard react to Terance Mann trade
Terance Mann was dealt to the Atlanta Hawks on trade deadline day alongside guard Bones Hyland. In exchange, the Clippers acquired veteran guard Bogdan Bogdanovic and three second round picks.
The deal makes sense for both sides, with the Clippers acquiring a veteran scorer and playmaker while the Hawks added a versatile guard/forward who can do everything, but simply needed consistent minutes.
Ivica Zubac and Terance Mann were two of the longest tenured Clippers, with Zubac arriving via trade in February 2019 and Mann being drafted four months later. Zubac is also the teammate Mann has played the most games with at 397 across five and a half seasons.
“Tough, it was tough,” Zubac told ClutchPoints after the Clippers’ weekend win over the Utah Jazz. “That’s my brother. Tough losing him, but happy for him for getting an opportunity over there. Hopefully more consistent and more minutes and we’ve seen over the years what he can do, and hopefully with a more consistent role, he can get back to it.”
Mann averaged 25 minutes per game in the 2023-24 season where he started 71 of the 75 games he appeared in. He was no longer a starter this season and saw his minutes dip to just under 20 per game.
The Clippers did not want to trade Terance Mann, especially after inking him to a three-year, $47 million contract extension this past summer. The idea was to keep Mann around for a long time, and hopefully have him retire a Clipper. Unfortunately, minutes became incredibly hard to come on this deep of a roster and Mann had fallen out of the rotation.
“Ever since I stepped foot in here, it’s been all love,” James Harden added postgame. “T-Mann, we sit on the plane together. Sits right next to me literally, so we just talk about everything. And then Bones is somebody that I’ve grown closer with in the sense of just trying to mentor him and teach him the business, that at the end of the day this is a business. Teaching him about his habits, growing in this league, because if you grow with it, you’ll get a lot out of it. But if you don’t, we’ve seen a lot on that end as well. Best of luck to those guys. Hope they continue to be successful and do their thing."
Clippers President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank started his post-trade deadline press conference by speaking at length about how much the organization valued Terance Mann and his work ethic over their five plus years together.
“Trading Terance was extremely difficult,” Lawrence Frank explained. “There’s a reason why Terance is beloved by everyone inside these walls and he’s one of our fan favorites as well.
“The belief we had when we drafted him, seeing his development from year one and then the breakout,” Lawrence Frank continued on Terance Mann. “You guys remember in the bubble, that last game against Orlando, where he almost had a triple-double. Everyone talks about the 39-point game to get us to Western Conference finals, but it was just the day-to-day consistency of what he brought, it was a model for basically our player development program. He’s very adaptable, being willing to accept any role. I love him and we all love him. He’s a top-shelf human being, a terrific rotational player and I love him, his mom, so that was really challenging and hard. Very thankful [for him].”
It’s unclear just how much of a role Terance Mann will play for the Atlanta Hawks, but they’re certainly a team that needs help following the season-ending injury to Jalen Johnson and the trade that sent De’Andre Hunter to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Kawhi Leonard was another teammate Mann had since the 2019-20 season. When Leonard suffered the torn ACL during the 2021 postseason, it was Terance Mann who scored 39 points on 15-of-21 shooting against the Utah Jazz in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals.
“He developed well as a player here,” Leonard said of Mann. “He came a long way with shooting and his intensity on the floor. I wish him the best over there. Hopefully he keeps having fun with it.”
The Hawks already played their long game in Los Angeles, but Atlanta will play host to the LA Clippers on Friday, March 14th at 4:30PM PST.
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