The Atlanta Hawks traded Bogdan Bogdanovic to the Los Angeles Clippers at the 2025 deadline, landing Bones Hyland and Terance Mann.
The Hawks have since waived Hyland, and Mann has become an integral part of the rotation. Bogdanovic, meanwhile, has acclimated himself just fine, averaging 12.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.3 assists in 18 appearances with LA, drawing praise from teammate James Harden.
“He can shoot the s*** out the ball,” Harden said, per Clippers writer Justin Russo on March 22.
Harden went into greater detail about what has made Bogdanovic’s transition from the Hawks to the Clippers smooth.
“Unbelievable basketball player. I think, a better guy, you know what I mean? He gets it, he understands it, and he fits in what we're trying to do. He understands it. He’s been in big-time games since he was a teenager, so this is no different,” Harden told reporters on March 21.
“He fits in. He’s a cool guy to hang out with. But he just understands, man, and he listens. I curse him out sometimes, and he don’t take an under skin. He just – he listens and goes out there and be better, and that’s the sign of somebody who wants to win. So I'm happy he’s on our team.”
Bogdanovic has embraced and supported his new teammate, even off the court, attending the premier event for the All-Star’s new signature sneaker.
Bogdan Bogdanović came out to support Clippers teammate James Harden in the launch party for the adidas Harden Vol. 9’s 🔥 pic.twitter.com/uRf5LNycNB
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 20, 2025
Bogdanovic has also touted Harden’s leadership.
“When you see veteran like James preparing for the game, land at 2 a.m., falling asleep, probably, around 4 or 5, and get ready for today – just sleep whole day – it’s a huge motivation for me and everyone else. So, he leads by example, we follow,” Bogdanovic said when asked about the difficulty of a back-to-back on March 12.
“Amazing competitor. He is pushing the best out of me, and he’s just trying to compete and win every single game, so. I’m still learning how to space and play with him, but we are on a good track.”
Bogdan Bogdanovic building strong bonds with Clippers teammates
Bogdanovic’s comments reflect Harden’s about their relationship, which the latter said includes the former being able to curse him out too.
“It’s only been a few weeks, but we got that relationship to where we communicate, we talk about it. Because at the end of the day, we all got one goal, and that’s to win. So there’s no hard feelings. There’s no just trying to be mean. And I’m sure, now that we fully healthy, guys feel like they should play more minutes or want to play more minutes or was used to playing more minutes,” Harden said.
“The main goal is to win the game. Whether I score 30 points or I score 10 points and we win, we all have the same goal. We all know what that is, so.”
Harden is not the only Clippers teammate Bogdanovic has a strong earl connection with.
Asked about his on-court connection with Clippers center Ivica Zubac, which is bolstered by their communication in Serbian, has impressed him. Zubac has gone from averaging 15.4 PPG to 19.2 PPG since Bogdanovic was added to the rotation.
“It’s easier when nobody understands you on the floor, so we can prepare better,” Bogdanovic said in that March 12 walk-off interview. “They don’t know what we want, and I’m just happy about his progress. He’s a hard-working guy, and he just competes. He just wants to win, play the right way. Amazing to play with him.”
Bogdanovic was not producing with the Hawks this season as he had in previous years. A 38.4% shooter from outside during his time, he shot 34.9% before the trade.
Bogdanovic has connected on 42.1% of his deep looks with the Clippers.
His Hawks tenure did not end as expected, but Bogdanovic was a class act on and off the court from start to finish. It is fitting that those traits have helped in ingratiate himself to his new surroundings.
Winning never hurt anyone either, and the Clippers shook off a 3-6 start post trade to go 8-1 since.