In 2019, Serge Ibaka was proclaimed NBA champion. It was the climax of the Spanish-Congolese player, his best moment in the best league in the world. And he also achieved it in a great season: 15 points (close to his career high) and an average of 8.1 rebounds, 53% shooting from the field and a key role on both sides of the court. In the Finals against the Warriors, he went to 11.3 points per night, with 20, 15 and 15 points in the last three games. He won alongside Marc Gasol and Sergio Scariolo. And on a team that included Danny Green, Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet… and Kawhi Leonard, of course. It was Ibaka’s greatest moment as a professional player, one that reserves his place in the great history books and that allows the power forward to win the biggest prize in an entity, Canadian to add insult to injury, that he had ever won. And, you know, a champion is forever.
Since then, Ibaka has gone downhill. He played one more season with the Raptors with the seventh game of the Conference semifinals, in the bubble and against the Celtics, as the limit. And, after this, the project was dissolved: Kawhi and Danny Green had already gone to Los Angeles (one to the Clippers and the other to the Lakers), Marc Gasol headed to the Los Angeles team a year later and then returned to Spain and Ibaka signed for the Clippers in what was then considered a masterful move by the entity owned by Steve Ballmer . But nevertheless, what was a promising first season ended with a severe back injury that has left a player who has a meteoric career, but an uncertain future, upset.
In his last season in Toronto, Ibaka averaged 15.4 points (his career high) and 8.4 rebounds (second best mark), alternating starts with starts from the bench, and earned a spot on a Clippers that desperately needed interior power and a good player in a position they didn’t have well covered. With the Angelenos, he had more than 11 points and 6 rebounds in 41 games, 39 of them as starters, but on March 14, 2021 he was injured against the Pelicans. The power forward tried to force himself to reach the playoffs, but he was barely able to contribute to the crush of Tyronn Lue’s team, who slipped into the conference finals for the first time in franchise history with Kawhi Leonard (and others) injured.
In the current course, Ibaka has returned late and poorly, going through the G-League, without the explosiveness of yesteryear, some other physical problem and with difficulties to develop the virtues that made him an extraordinarily respected player in the League. He only averages 14.7 minutes on average (the minimum of his career), in addition to also reaching his minimum in points (6.2) and rebounds (4.1). He has been relegated to a clear background in Tyronn Lue’s scheme, he has little role in a rotation affected by the coronavirus and injuries and barely attempts 5 shots per game. His maximum minutes have been 29, points 17, rebounds 11 and blocks 2, a very great quality in his first years in Oklahoma.
At this point, it only remains to be seen what the future of Ibaka will be. The player is on the market and the Clippers, who haven’t gotten through the season without Kawhi or Paul George, They also have Marcus Morris, Eric Bledsoe, Ivica Zubac or Nicolás Batum available for a possible transfer.. Ibaka could leave (he will receive 9.7 million dollars this course after exercising his player option) and, wherever he goes, he needs to do well for future contracts. On the negative side, his back operation and everything that has happened in recent months; but in the good there are also things: he is still 32 years old, he has responded efficiently to the few minutes he has on the track, he is known for his professionalism and brings good experience in dealing with younger players.
There is more than one trade option for Ibaka: the Bulls’ problems with Vucvevic’s defensive indolence could lead to the Bulls, who in return have little to offer in a potential trade. The Nets could be another option: Spencer Dinwiddie’s salary exception (just over $11 million) and some young man like Nic Claxton or Cam Thomas would be part of the movement of a team without a defensive plan and lacking a solid rebounder. Some Jazz in crisis also emerge, where Hassan Whiteside does not give guarantees for the playoffs and Eric Paschall’s experiment in small ballIt’s hardly caught on, but Salt Lake City has little to offer. In the Nuggets, who could give the young Zeke Nnaji or even a point guard like Facundo Campazzocould give quality minutes for a Nikola Jokic to rest who assumes everything.
Beyond the possible destinations of Ibaka, what is clear is that the player has begun his decline, but that he still has things to contribute and that he would fit into a (more or less) secondary role on almost any playoff team. away from his prime, the power forward is capable of contributing even in the best League in the world. And, if the injuries respect him, in the Clippers or outside of Los Angeles, he can make a good end of the season and continue to play a role in an NBA that he conquered in 2019. An extraordinary, enormous and wonderful legacy that not everyone can boast in an NBA that waits for no one. And Ibaka already knows that, who already has 13 seasons of experience in the North American competition. Almost nothing.
