LOS ANGELES -- The famous gospel song "The Storm is over Now" from Kirk Franklin revolves around another off-season move made by the LA Clippers. Clippers fan favorite "Stormin" Norman Powell has been moved from the Clippers in a blockbuster trade, and this was the right time to do it.
Powell, a Southern California native, arrived to the Clippers in the 2022 off-season in a trade with the Portland Trail Blazers for Eric Bledsoe and Justice Winslow. The trade was a massive upgrade for the Clippers; they were acquiring a player who had just finished a regular season with the Blazers, averaging 18.7 points per game as a starter. His development throughout his career has made him a respectable scorer in the league, which required consistency and hard work.
During the two-and-a-half seasons with the Clippers, Powell was known as a firecracker coming off the bench who could get hot at any minute. Being in multiple conversations for sixth man of the year conversations, that was until this past season, where Powell was placed in a role with the departure of Paul George.
At age 31, Powell echoed some strong statements that he would be ready for the opportunity. Of course, the "addition by subtraction" which revolved around not only him but other players on the team gaining opportunities to have bigger roles with the departure of George and Russell Westbrook.
"Everybody was killing me about my 'addition by subtraction'." 😅
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) January 24, 2025
Clippers guard Norman Powell on the 25-19 Clippers and his case to make the All-Star game this season 👀 pic.twitter.com/vEWsGPFtql
There were many concerns that league-wide, the Clippers would not even be a playoff team, which Powell said was "crazy". The Clippers exceeded that expectation, finishing with a 50-32 record as the fifth seed, and Powell had much to do with that.
He was dominant pre-all-star break, leading the team in scoring at 24.2 ppg with shooting splits of 49/41/83. Some of the notable names he was outscoring were Steph Curry, Lebron James, Donovan Mitchell, and Trae Young. More importantly, he was leading the charge on a Clippers team that was the sixth seed in the West without their best player, Kawhi Leonard.
This would be the first season he would even get some notoriety as a potential all-star. However, he was not able to get his first nomination. Then it was downhill from there for Powell.
Post all-star break, he sustained an apparent hamstring injury that would linger; his scoring output dropped from 24.2 pre all-star break to 14.6 post all-star break. While he did finish the season averaging 21.8 ppg, he didn't look as sharp as he did in the first half of the season.
Now, some of that had to do with injury, but the other part was the resurgence of Leonard, who came back for 37 games and the last month of the season with a vengeance, averaging 25.9 ppg. In the last 15 games of the season, the Clippers went 13-2 with Leonard dominant, leading the Clippers to a 13-2 record while avoiding the play-in.
The rapid increase in Powell's game from last season to this year, mixed with the noise of the Clippers fan base, put added pressure on Powell that he would have to answer in not just the regular season but the playoffs.
The Clippers went through a grueling seven-game series with the Denver Nuggets with an embarrassing 120-101 game seven loss. Powell would finish the series averaging 16.7 ppg with shooting splits of 47/35/77. His numbers were solid, but he was not able to fill the shoes of George, who, in his time with the Clippers, was looked at as the best player on the team at times, even with Leonard present. George, a 6'9 wing, brought not only scoring, but defense, play-making, and rebounding. It almost seems unfair to expect that from a 6'3 guard like Powell, but that was the role he was not only given but he asked for coming into the season.
Powell has one more year left on his contract. The Clippers decided to move him now where his value is high to a team like the Miami Heat that desperately needs his services with the departure of Jimmy Butler. Powell can go to a new scenery with a fresh start, where now that he has some playoff experience as a main scoring option, he can build off of it it.