Clippers Fan Vote Reveals MVP, Future Stars and the Team's Most Chaotic Personalities
NBA awards season is here, and we wanted to hear from YOU, LA Clippers fans.
Who is your team's MVP? What about its next first-time All-Star? Which player is on the best contract? How about the worst?
Which player is most likely to have a burner account? Who's the best athlete? And, perhaps most importantly, if you had to choose one player to team up with during a Zombie apocalypse, who's your guy?
You helped us make sense of the Clippers' season by casting a ballot for each of these awards—and more!
Who Is the Most Valuable Player?
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Winner: Kawhi Leonard
This might have been a conversation if James Harden or Ivica Zubac had hung around, but Kawhi Leonard was the no-brainer pick here. He stayed healthy (by his standards) and set a career high in points per game—no small feat for a player with five top-10 MVP finishes.
If you're into new toys, trade acquisition Darius Garland might have done it for you. He came in second with just one percent of the vote. This one was all Kawhi.
Who Is Most Underrated?
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Winner: Kris Dunn
Defense rarely gets its due, particularly in the backcourt. That made ballhawk Kris Dunn a logical choice here. He's among the best on-ball smotherers around, and the Clips needed his high-pressure defense all season.
Deeper cuts include Jordan Miller and Kobe Sanders, both of whom played much larger roles than most would have guessed coming into the season.
Derrick Jones Jr. made a quiet run at Dunn, grabbing 30.0 percent of the vote to finish in second place.
Who Is the Best Athlete?
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Winner: Derrick Jones Jr.
It's not easy to top a guy nicknamed Airplane Mode in a contest of athleticism. Even if Derrick Jones Jr. is pushing 30, his high-rising dunks and effortless speed in transition still stood out.
Garland is so quick he seems to teleport (when healthy), John Collins snuck in a few posterizations and Bennedict Mathurin's head-down drives were effective because of his quick-start burst.
Who Is Most Likely To Be a 1st-Time All-Star in the Next 5 Years?
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Winner: Bennedict Mathurin
Sanders and Miller look like they'll have roles in a rotation going forward, but the Clips are short on star-upside youth. Mathurin, the easy winner, had the scoring aspect handled, though he'll need to be more efficient and well-rounded before someone considers tossing him an All-Star vote.
Maybe if Victor Wembanyama's assertion that defense is half the game catches on, Dunn will enjoy some late-career love. We also threw Yanic Konan Niederhäuser into the pool on the strength of his youth and mystery-box potential. Fans ended up handing him a whopping 29.0 percent of their votes.
Who Has the Best Contract?
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Winner: Kris Dunn
In terms of dollars-to-production value this season, Brook Lopez's $8.8 million salary felt like a bargain. The veteran big man took over starting duties after Ivica Zubac was traded and provided his typical offensive stretch and interior protection—all for about half the MLE.
Jones Jr. was another relative steal, but he makes nearly twice as much as Dunn, who walked away with a victorious 41.0 percent of votes.
Who Has the Worst Contract?
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Winner: Bogdan Bogdanović
If Garland can't stay healthy, the fully guaranteed $87 million he'll collect over the next two years could feel like quite a burden. Throw Leonard's $50.3 million salary in the mix as well, if only because it's hard to know what the league might do with his contract following the conclusion of the Aspiration investigation.
Bogdan Bogdanović, making $16 million, had no trouble winning this category. That's a little surprising considering LA can get out of his deal by declining his 2026-27 team option, but the fans have spoken.
Who Is the Best Trash-Talker?
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Winner: Kris Dunn
If we're considering international play, Bogdanović is at least the highest-risk smack-talker. Remember when he almost triggered an international incident by mocking Carmelo Anthony (who wasn't even on Team USA) in the 2024 Olympics? Serbia didn't lose that game because Bogi popped off when his team was up 13, but his bravado may not have helped.
Ultimately, Bogi's patriotic outburst didn't do him any favors with voters. They instead went with Dunn, who often let opponents know easily he was shutting them down.
Who Is Most Likely to Have a Burner Account?
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Winner: Bradley Beal
You just know Lopez has an account where he reviews Disney attractions, and former Clipper James Harden probably had a bot army dedicated to calling Daryl Morey a liar online. Other than that, it was pretty hard to concoct scenarios where any Clippers are out there hiding behind fake handles.
Fans decided Bradley Beal was the correct choice by giving him 48.0 percent of the vote. Not a terrible guess, considering Beal has griped outwardly about his role in the past.
Who Are You Taking With You Into the Zombie Apocalypse?
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Winner: Kawhi Leonard
Leonard was the easy answer here. He'd be unflappable in the direst circumstances, though his unwillingness to shout "hey, look out!" when a horde of the undead came shambling up the road might be a problem. Basically, Kawhi would emerge from a zombie apocalypse just fine, and you'd do well just sticking close to him. Even if he doesn't profile as a leader in a crisis.
Who Is Most Likely To Be Playing Overseas In 2 Seasons?
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Winner: Bogdan Bogdanović
Bogdanović is 33 and posting the lowest scoring average of his career. Fans decided he'd likely prefer to head back to Europe for his next contract, where he'd still be a big draw and would likely put up numbers. Nic Batum got some votes on the chance he could take the Tony Parker route by buying an ownership stake in a French team, briefly playing for it and then heading to the executive suite.
Beal's multi-year slide could result in him having to find basketball employment outside the NBA, but only six percent of voters went with him over Bogi and Batum.
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