After seven seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks, Brook Lopez embarked on a new chapter of his career, and likely the final one, by signing a two-year, $18 million contract with the Clippers this summer. Although there remains mutual affection between player and former franchise, the California native is excited for his homecoming in year 18.
Milwaukee Bucks career in the rearview, Splash Mountain returns home
ESPN ran a piece on Lopez’s return to the southern region of the Golden State, playing for a team that wallowed among the league’s cellar dwellers during his childhood fandom. Now they’re perennial playoff contenders, and have been for over a decade.
For Lopez, the transformation is mindboggling, a sentiment he expressed in a Summer League interview.
“It’s crazy to see, but it’s very cool. Seeing the climb, the ascent, I’m a Cali boy. I grew up in the valley in North Hollywood. Obviously, things were very different back then. And to see where the Clippers have come now, it’s just astonishing.”
Lopez has made a stop in Los Angeles in his career already, but for just a single season with the Lakers, in 2017-18. The season after, he joined the Bucks.
Now employed by the other LA team, Lopez reunites with Frank Lawrence, his head coach when he entered the league with the Nets. Lawrence has been Clippers president of basketball operations since 2017. The man he replaced? Doc Rivers, who coached Lopez for his final season and a half in Milwaukee.
That irony aside, Lopez characterized the reunion as a “definitely a full-circle moment.”
Already wearing one ring, Lopez hopes to help Clippers win first-ever title
He’ll have a different role with the Clippers than he did as a Buck or at any other point in his career. Having come off the bench only 41 times in 1105 career games, Lopez will add to that total this season backing up incumbent center Ivica Zubac, who had a career year and was named to the All-Defense second team in 2024-25.
Including future Hall of Famers James Harden and Kawhi Leonard, whom Lopez will all but surely join in the Naismith Memorial Museum, the Clippers once again trot out a competitive roster. Lopez himself will be one of the NBA’s better reserve bigs: last season for the Bucks he avearged 13 points, five rebounds and nearly two blocks on 50.9/37.3/82.6 shooting splits.
Behind Zubac, who does most of his scoring near the basket, Lopez will offer floor spacing and a change of pace.
Milwaukee fans griped about his lack of quickness and waning defensive ability, and true, he no longer fits the roster mold, but he was still highly productive for a 37-year-old in his 17th season. For years, even last season, he was integral to team character. There’s no 2021 title without him.
Despite the organizational turnaround, the Clippers have yet to reach a Finals of their own, let alone win one, in their 55 years as a franchise. With his championship pedigree, perhaps Lopez can help nudge them over the hump.
“It’s beautiful. I’m glad to be a part of it,” Lopez marveled at the Clippers’ metamorphosis. “And hopefully, I can help take them even further up.”
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