The Los Angeles Clippers are on nobody’s radar.

Following the offseason departure of nine-time NBA All-Star Paul George, not many expected the Clippers to remain relevant in the Western Conference. Indeed, Los Angeles’ “other team” has been an afterthought this year despite debuting a new state of the art home arena, the Intuit Dome.

The Clippers have not been that bad though and have actually been quite good this season, putting them in the perfect position to catch the rest of the West by surprise come playoff time.

They are eight games above .500 with a 38-30 record, good for eighth place in the Western Conference. Only 1.5 games separate them from the sixth seed Golden State Warriors and the last guaranteed postseason berth. With 16 games still left on their schedule, this is still very much anybody’s race.

The trio of James Harden, Norman Powell, and Ivica Zubac have carried this team for most of this season and with Kawhi Leonard slowly rounding into form, Los Angeles should feel strongly their chances of making a surprise run at the second round.

Their midseason trade for veteran guard Bogdan Bogdanovic has added yet another dimension to the team, further strengthening the Clippers’ case as a legitimate dark horse title contender. They acquired Bogdanovic last month from the Atlanta Hawks along with three future second round picks in exchange for Terance Mann and Bones Hyland–a deal that, as of this moment, is a major win in favor of Los Angeles.

After a standout Paris Olympics campaign during this past summer with the Serbian National Team, Bogdanovic’s campaign got off on the wrong foot when he suffered a hamstring injury in the Hawks’ season opener. By the time he returned to the court a month later, he found himself out of favor with the rise of defensive specialist Dyson Daniels.

This series of unfortunate events led to the lowest numbers of Bogdanovic’s career and ultimately paved the way for his trade to the Clippers. The 32-year-old is thriving in this new environment, putting together a run of double-digit scoring performances in seven out of eight games over a stretch bridging February and March. 

With the limited availability of Powell and Leonard, Bogdanovic has even had the opportunity to start for Los Angeles, averaging 16.3 points in his first three games as a starter. The fourth time proved to be the charm as Bogdanovic had his best performance yet with the Clippers and put up his highest scoring NBA game in almost a year. 

In Los Angeles’ 119-104 road win over the Miami Heat, Bogdanovic dropped 30 points on 11-of-16 field goals–including four-of-seven three-pointers–10 rebounds, and four assists. He played as if he had a Serbia jersey on, pulling up for jumpers with authority and operating the pick-and-roll like a maestro. Moreover, his growing chemistry with Harden in the Clippers’ backcourt is becoming more and more evident, as their playmaking and scoring abilities naturally complement one another.

The collective perimeter firepower of this Los Angeles team with Bogdanovic onboard gives them a chance to go toe-to-toe with any team in the league on a nightly basis. This team has four players who, when hot, can single-handedly win a game on their own–Harden, Powell, Leonard, and now Bogdanovic–which not only makes them a scary opponent to match-up with in a seven-game postseason series, but also an exciting team to watch for the everyday fan.

If everything goes their way over these next few weeks, especially on the injury front, then these Clippers should have no problem winning over new fans and filling up the seats at their new home stadium. Savvy trades such as the one that brought in Bogdanovic will only help and it should only be a matter of time before this team gets picked up by everyone else’s radar out West.