2017-18 NBA Regular Season: 10 pleasant surprises

#5 The Clippers posting a very good record

Chris Paul and Blake Griffin were both traded away by the Clippers front office

The loss of franchise cornerstone Chris Paul was a huge blow to the Clippers' chances of making the playoffs. The Clippers' front office went further along this path and traded Blake Griffin, Willie Reed and Brice Johnson to the Pistons mid-season in exchange for Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, Boban Marjanovic and the Pistons' 2018 first-round pick.

Yet, they have been able to secure a credible 42-38 record so far (they would be 8th in the Eastern Conference standings if they qualified in that conference), on the back of some coaching genius pulled by Doc Rivers and the excellent play of Lou Williams, who is a runaway favourite for the 6th Man of the Year award this season.

In Tobias Harris, the Clippers have secured a volume scorer who can light up the scoreboard on his day, and with Patrick Beverley and Danilo Gallinari (hopefully) in better health next season, they could make some noise in the playoff race in April next year too.