Exclusive: Clippers' Norman Powell should be an NBA All-Star this season, and the numbers back it up
01/25/2025 09:32 AM
LOS ANGELES, CA — The Los Angeles Clippers entered the 2024-25 season with a handful of question marks in the eyes of everyone outside the organization. One of the bigger questions is what they were doing by allowing an NBA All-Star like Paul George to walk instead of meeting his contract demands when they had no means to replace his production. And then Norman Powell entered the chat.
Powell has been a consistent scorer throughout his NBA career, but has largely flown under the radar because he’s played on teams with bigger names and larger contracts. But folks mistook his accepting his role for an inability to perform beyond expectations, and this season has shown just how much of a mistake that is.
Why Clippers’ Norman Powell should be an NBA All-Star this season
Norman Powell made waves throughout the NBA on media day, but not in the way that the Clippers’ new slogan suggests. In his first press conference of the season, Powell offered his view and mindset after the Clippers allowed George to walk in free agency.
"I saw it as addition by subtraction,” Norman Powell said of the newfound opportunity. “I think what I've said in this media day every single year since being here is how I want to be a starting two guard. And the opportunity is in front of me, I've prepared myself. I've always seen myself as a starter in this league, I think I've put the work in, I feel like the numbers show for itself when I am starting and what the output is.
“I'm excited to take on that role, the pressures that come with it, the good, bad, and ugly. I feel like mentally I'm ready for it. I've always been ready for it. And physically, I've put the work in. And it's not a question of that, it's just being able to fully show the work that I've put in. So I'm excited for the full opportunity and everything that comes with it.”
While Powell was talking about opportunities for the entire team, this isn’t the first time he’s been outspoken about his confidence and the high expectations he has for himself. In the Clippers’ 2023 media day availability, Powell made it known he wanted to be an NBA All-Star, but refused to put any of his own goals above the team’s ultimate goal of winning an NBA Championship.
“My individual goals, being an All-Star. I see myself as that caliber player. That’s my mindset. But like I said throughout the course of the year, individual goals are great to achieve, but I never place that above the team’s main goal, and that’s to win a championship.
“I’d sacrifice everything for that championship. That’s what I really want. But individually, I want to be an All-Star. I see myself as that. I’m not going to change that mentality or approach.”
Powell might be the best example of a guy who seized his opportunity and ran away with it. That’s why he’s a candidate for an All-Star spot this season, and the more you look into his impact, the better his case for the February exhibition gets.
On the season, Norman Powell is having a career-year, averaging 23.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.4 steals, and 3.5 made threes per game for the Clippers while shooting 49 percent from the field, 43.3 percent from three, and 83.4 percent from the free throw line.
The points, assists, steals, threes, and three-point percentage are all career-highs, while the field goal percentage and rebound per game marks are the second highest of his NBA career.
At this stage, Powell believes he’s done more than enough to prove he’s an NBA All-Star this season.
“I think I’ve been playing at an All-Star level all season,” Norman Powell told ClutchPoints in an exclusive interview leading up to All-Star announcements. “Honestly, I don’t like talking about myself, but I mean, numbers don’t lie on where I’m at, what I’m averaging, what I’m doing across the board, and then the efficiency that I’m playing with.
“I see myself as an All-Star, I want to be an All-Star, and I think I am.”
Why does being named an NBA All-Star matter for Powell? A memory from his Toronto Raptors days, where he watched two former teammates be named to the All-Star team, has stuck with him nearly a decade later.
“I think it’s just another level. It’s another level that I want to get to, it’s another level I’ve always seen myself at. Just another level that I see myself at. I know that a lot comes with the territory, but I’ve always wanted it. I want to know what it feels like. I want to know, be in that moment when your name’s getting called, I watched DeMar [DeRozan], Kyle [Lowry] get their names called at home and go to the middle of the court and accept their All-Star jersey. I’ve always wanted that. I’ve always looked at that and said, ‘I can be that. I can get to that moment.’ It’s something that I’ve been chasing and seen myself at, so hopefully it happens.”
Powell’s scoring appears to have a direct correlation with the outcome of Clippers games this season. The Clippers are 21-8 when Powell scores at least 18 points in a game this season — a .724 winning percentage — and are 0-7 when he scores 17 or fewer points in a game.
Powell has also reached double-figure scoring in a quarter 31 different times this season. According to Stathead, that’s the 16th most of any player this season, directly behind guys like Kevin Durant (32), Damian Lillard (33), LaMelo Ball (34), and Donovan Mitchell (35). That’s also ahead of guys like Jaylen Brown (29), De’Aaron Fox (29), Trae Young (29), Cade Cunningham (28), and LeBron James (27). In case it didn’t click, that’s a whole lot of stars Powell is in company with.
Among players who take at least eight three-pointers per game, Norman Powell has the highest three-point percentage and the highest field goal percentage in the NBA. Powell’s league-leading 43.3 percent three-point shooting is ahead of guys like Anthony Edwards (42.6 percent), Stephen Curry (42.6 percent), and Tyler Herro (40.4 percent).
It’s not often you see a player’s usage and volume go up while also seeing their efficiency go up along with them. That’s what makes Norman Powell’s season that much more impressive.
“I feel like I always look at my game and see areas of improvement,” Powell explained to ClutchPoints. “I think that’s why I continue to improve. I really think it was opportunity for me. I mean, I think if people look back at before I got here, and what I was doing with Portland before I got traded here, and my time in Toronto, I think this is the level that I always could play at and be at. I think there’s always more I can do to win games and just play better. I think I’m never complete, and I’m always working to improve, and I always look at my weaknesses.
“I don’t think it was like I had to do more to show that I could do that. I just take advantage of my opportunity, take advantage of the role, and do what the team is asking me to do, and then show in spurts where I do get the opportunity for a larger role that I can handle the pressure, I can handle the challenges that go with it, and I can produce.”
As Norman Powell showed more and more of his prolific scoring, teams made it a point to bump him up to the top of their scouting reports. Powell saw less spacing off the ball, more defenders on the ball, and an overall concerted effort to keep his scoring down.
Powell feels the respect he’s getting from defenses nowadays is something that’s always been there. It’s the outside that hasn’t necessarily been paying attention.
“I feel like I always had the respect,” Powell said. “I think it’s the outside where I didn’t have the respect, but within the floor, in the game, the way I’m being played, opponents and things like that, they’ve always respected me. They’ve always shown me love and appreciated it.
“I’ve had star players tell me they want me on their team. I feel like the guys know how much I work. I compete against them. I don’t back down from a challenge. I don’t see them in awe. I go at them, and they respect that. They respected that from the jump when I was a young rookie in the league, going at them. I think it’s just more the media that puts you in a box.”
Coming into the season with question marks surrounding Kawhi Leonard, Norman Powell wanted to focus on how he can be the best version of himself while also being able to lead the team to wins. James Harden was always going to be, ‘The System,’ but how can the Clippers still win the minutes that he’s off the floor?
That’s exactly what Powell and longtime trainer AJ Diggs addressed this summer.
“I think [the workouts] just got me ready for like all aspects and what it takes to be a starter,” Powell added. “Filling in the different roles, especially with Kawhi and not knowing what’s to fully come of that. Just being able to be ready for the roles that are going to be thrown at me, the situations that I’m going to be in on and off the floor, you know, as a leader, what it is, being able to really read and control the game on the court with who I’m on, making sure that there’s no drop off.
It's not often you see someone's usage and volume go up and the efficiency go up with it. That's what makes Norman Powell's season that much more impressive.
Last season This season
PPG — 13.9 25.0
APG — 1.1 2.4
FGA — 10.1… pic.twitter.com/1L4jo5Z6gv— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) November 7, 2024
“If James go to the bench and it’s just me, what does that unit look like in those four to five minutes? How can I make sure that we’re going on a run rather than on the wrong side where we’re -4 or -6. So just having that mental approach and being able to prepare for that leadership role and then just physically, like skill wise, being able to get to where I need to get to, slow the game down, making reads off the dribble, going to the left, because teams want to force me left and I get me downhill to my right. So really, really putting the emphasis on my off hand, being able to finish, being able to drive and get to the same spots that I want to get to as if I’m going right.”
The on/off and advanced numbers also back Norman Powell’s NBA All-Star case. According to NBA.com/stats, Norman Powell has the second-best net rating differential on the team at +7.6 points per 100 possessions, trailing only Ivica Zubac at +9.7 points per 100.
According to Second Spectrum, Norman Powell’s Quantified Shooter Impact (also called qSI; a stat which measures the impact of the player and his ability to finish compared to the league average) ranks sixth in the NBA among players who have taken at least 500 shot attempts. His +8.74 qSI ranks in the 90th percentile.
In 1182 minutes with Powell ON the floor, the Clippers have a 6.44 net rating
In 939 minutes with Powell OFF the floor, the Clippers have a -0.93 net rating.
In the 92 minutes with Powell ON, but James Harden and Ivica Zubac OFF, the Clippers have a +6.04 net rating.
In 274 minutes with Powell ON and Harden OFF, the Clippers have a 5.08 net rating.
Powell also has the second highest effective field goal percentage (59.35 percent) in the league among guards behind only Zach LaVine (60.78 percent). For those who aren’t familiar, effective field goal percentage (often written as eFG%) is a stat that gives increased value to three-pointers versus two-pointers.
The starters for the 2025 NBA All-Star Game have already been selected, and now it’s up to the head coaches of the NBA to decide the fate of the reserves. Norman Powell has performed far better than any of the outside expectations put on him with Paul George’s departure. The Clippers guard is having a career-year across the board in his 10th season in the NBA, which is just about unheard of to have happen this late.
But at this point, is a fifth seed in the West led by an ultra efficient scorer going to be enough? It should be, but the West is filled with so many extremely talented guards that this race will be hard to predict. One thing is certain: Norman Powell has more than earned his spot on the 2025 NBA All-Star Team.
The post Exclusive: Clippers’ Norman Powell should be an NBA All-Star this season, and the numbers back it up appeared first on ClutchPoints.
