LOS ANGELES — With each passing game, it’s become more clear: The Clippers’ trade-deadline acquisition of Ivica Zubac from the Lakers was a fleecing.



Zubac quietly has become one of the game’s better rim-protectors before his 22nd birthday, which is Monday. His 7-foot-1 frame (and 7-4 wingspan) make him one of the biggest players, and he’s learned how to leverage that size in close quarters. He’s not a swat machine like, say, Joel Embiid or Rudy Gobert, but more of a positionally sound defender who will alter shots in the mold of Marc Gasol or Steven Adams.



Since Zubac’s debut as the Clippers’ starting center on Feb. 9 in Boston, the Clippers are 9-4 and have posted a 102.4 defensive rating in the 264 minutes he has been on the court. That is better than the Milwaukee Bucks’ league-best defensive rating (104.6) by over 2.0 points per 100 possessions and better than L.A.’s season-long defensive rating by over...