The Los Angeles Clippers pressed the big red button and signaled to the basketball universe that they weren’t satisfied with being merely good when they traded Blake Griffin to the Detroit Pistons for a package of Avery Bradley, Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanovic, and a 2018 first-round pick.
Now as the Feb. 8 NBA trade deadline draws nearer, the Clippers could press a series of smaller red buttons that could position the franchise for a swift, successful rebuild around draft picks and young players.
On a recent episode of The Lowe Post podcast with ESPN’s Zach Lowe, Sports Illustrated’s Lee Jenkins — who has covered the Clippers extensively — said Los Angeles wants “to be competitive and recast [the roster] at the same time.”
“They don’t believe that free agents want to play with guys who are 20 years old or guys who are 35 or 36 years old,” Jenkins said. “They think that they will need good, young players — maybe not great young players — who can attract free agents. That’s sort of the plan.”
If the Clippers’ leadership, headlined by owner Steve Ballmer and executives Lawrence Frank, Mike Winger, and Trent Redden, made anything clear, it’s this: Jockeying with the Nuggets and Trail Blazers for a playoff spot only to be blown off the face of the planet by the Warriors or Rockets isn’t good enough. Los Angeles wants to position itself as a perennial contender four or five years down the road.
Here are a few trades that help get them there:
DeAndre Jordan must go
Lob City suffered a premature death when Chris Paul orchestrated a trade to Houston, and the coffin was closed with Griffin’s deal to Detroit. Now, it’s time to bury the casket and ship elsewhere the last remaining pillar of those glory-ish days.
Jordan is 29 years old and is still in the prime of his career. He’s averaging 11.8 points, 14.9 rebounds, and a block per game. Teams that need help defending the paint and controlling the glass would be wise to poach Jordan if they are in pursuit of a deep playoff push, or even a championship.
Jordan back to Dallas?
The Clippers could explore dealing Jordan to the Mavericks, who reached a verbal agreement with him in free agency in 2015 only for him to turn around and re-sign in Los Angeles. (Our resident Mavs expert Tim Cato says this scenario is unlikely, but not impossible if it’s an amazing deal.)
Let’s rule out the Mavericks, who aren’t giving up a top-10 pick for a shotblocker in the latter half of his prime. While we’re at it, let’s rule out the other 14 teams likely banking on draft picks for a boost next season.
OK, what about Cleveland?
The Cavaliers probably aren’t willing to part ways with the Brooklyn pick without assurances that LeBron James is re-signing long term. But if they’ll give up their own pick, a projected late first-rounder, Cleveland could land a pretty big fish.
The Cavs pursued deals for both Jordan and George Hill, according to The New York Times’ Marc Stein, but the deal with Hill recently fell apart. It is unclear if there was any traction between Cleveland and Los Angeles regarding a Jordan trade, but if the Cavaliers pursued, there is interest.
The Clippers would get a pick in the mid-20s along with Tristan Thompson and Iman Shumpert. Thompson has two years worth $36 million left on his contract following this season, but he’s a workhorse who will always provide value on the glass. And something about Shumpert screams Los Angeles.
This would be worth exploring, though it’s unclear how much of a help Jordan is against the Warriors, who the Cavs will ultimately see in the NBA Finals if they make it there. (Unless the Rockets knock them out.)
The Wizards could use Jordan, right?
The Wizards need a rim protector and lob-pass finisher like Jordan, but their salary cap is clogged at the top with John Wall, Bradley Beal, and Otto Porter accounting for more than half of the payroll.
Washington would need to unload one of Marcin Gortat or Ian Mahinmi and still can’t really afford to give up any of its young players, like Kelly Oubre. For that reason, unless the Wizards can pull in a third team or are willing to give up, say, Oubre, Jordan to Washington is dead.
The Bucks need a push to compete in the East
That leaves the Bucks, who have several young players and could stand to move a few if it meant landing a rim-runner and protector like Jordan:
The trade gives Milwaukee a fringe All-Star in the frontcourt. It gives Giannis Antetokounmpo a pressure release with a reliable lob-pass finisher and adds a player with six years of playoff experience under his belt.
More importantly, it gives the Clippers Milwaukee’s 2018 mid-to-late first-round pick, a serviceable young shot blocker in John Henson, and a bulldog of a point guard in Matthew Dellavedova. D.J. Wilson, a rookie, hasn’t shown much in limited time, but he is 6’10 and seems to be working on his three-point shot.
Getting the most for Lou Williams
Williams’ stock will never be higher than it is right now. At least we say that until he goes off for another 35 points off the bench.
That’s how flammable and unpredictable Williams has been for the Clippers this season. He’s been a walking bucket all of his career, but this season, something’s clicked. He’s averaging a career-high 23.5 points per game. In the month of January, he’s the league’s second-highest scorer (28.2 PPG) behind Stephen Curry.
The drawback to trading for Williams, though, is this: He becomes a free agent at the end of the season and can leave your favorite team hanging to sign elsewhere on the drop of a dime. Teams will be wary of giving up too much for him, but the chance at boosting the bench with the league’s leading Sixth Man of the Year candidate is too hard to pass up on — especially for those competing for a deep playoff run.
OK, so surely it’s Williams to Cleveland?
A few teams come to mind right off the bat, and the Cavaliers are one of them. Cleveland is struggling with some awful point guard play thanks to injuries to both Isaiah Thomas and Derrick Rose. Williams solves some of the Cavaliers’ problems as a professional bucket-getter off the bench. The Cavaliers just don’t have very much outside of their own pick to get him, and an earlier proposal that included J.R. Smith and Thompson — according to Stein — did not materialize into a deal.
That trade would end up looking something like this, including the Cavs’ own 2018 first-rounder:
The issue here is that Los Angeles could easily get a better deal elsewhere, and there are other teams who will want Williams’ services. Consider this: Each of the bottom 10 teams in bench scoring, according to NBA.com, are playoff teams.
How about the Timberwolves?
Pairing Williams and Jamal Crawford is something you’d only do in a video game, but could it work on the basketball court?
We’d all pay good money to find out.
The Pelicans should be looking to make deals
The Pelicans need scoring — and fast. Williams is the guy who can help. New Orleans also doesn’t need its first-round pick in this year’s draft. It needs to convince Anthony Davis that the franchise can properly build around him by winning now.
Nothing spells win now more than trading young players and a pick for a talented scorer who could leave in the summer.
Could Cleveland pull off the unthinkable?
If the Cavaliers are actually willing to move the Brooklyn pick in pursuit of a championship this year, they could potentially land both Jordan AND Williams in one fell swoop:
Cleveland might need a third team to help facilitate this deal, but this trade shores up the interior and adds a power-packed punch from the bench. It does nothing, though, for its lack of perimeter defensive effort, which continues to be a problem.
After trading their biggest superstar acquired through the draft this century, the Clippers are expected to make several more moves that will ensure the best position for their future. Sure, they could keep Jordan and Williams, but hauling in the best return for the two stars puts Los Angeles back on track for future success.
We don’t know if Ballmer and Co. will indeed pull the trigger on a deal that brings the house down. But after he shipped Griffin to Detroit, anything’s possible.