Clippers start season with roster overhaul amid salary-cap probe

The Los Angeles Clippers enter the new season with an overhauled roster and high expectations but also with lingering offcourt controversy and new questions about a veteran star’s fitness. The team opened the regular season on the road in Utah after a busy offseason that saw them trade Norman Powell for John Collins and add veterans Chris Paul, Bradley Beal and Brook Lopez, even as the franchise remains under an active NBA investigation into alleged salary-cap circumvention tied to owner Steve Ballmer and payments to Kawhi Leonard.

On the court, the Clippers boast one of the deepest and most veteran rosters in the league, a configuration coach Tyronn Lue called “well-rounded.” Kawhi Leonard described the assembled group as “probably the most well-rounded team since then,” referring to the period before his 2021 ACL injury. With Leonard, James Harden and Beal forming a high-profile perimeter trio and additions such as Collins, Lopez and Paul available to bolster the second unit, the Clippers expect to be competitive in a stacked Western Conference.

That optimism is tempered by several potential weaknesses. League scouts have raised concerns about James Harden’s conditioning...