Norman Powell is now loving life in Los Angeles as a member of the Clippers, but things weren’t quite so rosy when he first arrived. Powell was traded to the Clippers by the Portland Trail Blazers in 2022 and shared what his experience was when he came to LA with ESPN.
Powell was set up in an executive suite at a Ritz-Carlton, where he lived out of six suitcases. His hotel closet was overflowing with clothes and his shoes would be laid out in front of the couch.
“If you do dry cleaning and things like that, it’s so expensive,” Powell said. “So I was doing that for a whole two months, going to the laundromat, washing your clothes, eating out a lot, trying to find a meal service so you’re not eating room service or fast food.”
Despite Powell’s best efforts to save money, his stay at the hotel ended up costing him in a big way. It was through no fault of his own, though, as a valet crashed his car.
“They crashed my Porsche Taycan,” Powell said. “So going through all that, it was like a little whirlwind of events. It’s crazy.”
It certainly was a whirlwind of events. Just a few weeks before he was traded, Powell had moved into a new house that he had bought in Portland. He was expecting to stay there for years, having signed a five-year, $90 million deal, but less than a month after moving in, he was living at a hotel in Los Angeles.
His experience is one that many NBA players would be able to relate to. There have been countless occasions of teams telling individuals that they’re going nowhere, only to then turn around and ship them out of town because they found an advantageous trade.
With the February 8 trade deadline fast approaching, a fair few players will experience this as well. We see a flurry of activity around the deadline, with even players who have seemingly never had their names included in trade talks all season having to pack their bags and move.
Norman Powell Has Excelled For The Clippers In 2023-24
While those initial months were difficult for Powell, he is having a lot of fun now playing for the red-hot Clippers. They have won 26 of their last 31 games and now sit atop the standings in the West with a 34-15 record.
The likes of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and James Harden are the biggest reasons for their success, but Powell has played his part too. The 30-year-old is averaging 13.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game while shooting 49.6% from the field and 45.0% from beyond the arc.
He has been one of the top reserves in the NBA this season and is in the running for Sixth Man of the Year along with his teammate Russell Westbrook.
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