NBA Trade Rumors: 10 Teams That Should Trade For Blake Griffin
8. San Antonio Spurs
Will this deal ever happen? No. But should it happen? Hell yeah, it should. A straight up swap might even do the trick here, and it might even make both teams better.
For the San Antonio Spurs, who sit at 39-7, it’s only natural to wonder why the hell they’d mess with a good thing by trading LaMarcus Aldridge right when he’s starting to fit in.
Aldridge’s numbers are down to 15.9 points and 8.8 rebounds per game on 48.8 percent shooting, but that’s a product of getting used to new teammates, Kawhi Leonard‘s emergence and, let’s face it, being a product of the Spurs’ system.
However, San Antonio is the league’s stingiest defense by a Boris Diaw-sized margin and the Spurs are quite clearly one of the two best teams in the NBA, with the rest of the league just playing for third. Aldridge has certainly played a significant part in all of that, even with Tim Duncan help cover for his defensive shortcomings.
But if you watched the Spurs’ first showdown with the Golden State Warriors, you saw Draymond Green eviscerate Aldridge on both ends of the floor, holding him to five points on 2-of-9 shooting. Aldridge was borderline unplayable, with the Dubs exploiting his pick-and-roll defense and getting to the basket at will without Duncan down low.
San Antonio will (hopefully) have Duncan available for a potential seven-game series against the Warriors, and that was only one regular season game in January. But the point still stands: While the Spurs are currently good enough to beat anyone else in the league, this “system player” version of Aldridge may not be enough in a matchup with Golden State.
Enter Blake Griffin, who has been one of the only players in the NBA capable of putting up big numbers against Draymond Green and the Warriors’ defense over the last few seasons. In two games against the Dubs this season, the Flyin’ Lion averaged 25.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists on 51.2 percent shooting, and in three games against the Dubs last year, he posted 24.0 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists on 50 percent shooting.
Griffin is a far better passer than Aldridge, he’s four years younger than Aldridge and playing under Gregg Popovich, he and the Spurs’ offense would be damn near unstoppable. San Antonio would have a much brighter long-term future with him and Leonard, and though Griffin is not as tall or long as Aldridge, the Spurs’ defense would help make up for those shortcomings.
Griffin would be able to handle himself better defensively against the Warriors and a similarly undersized Draymond Green, and he’d make the Dubs work defensively since his elite passing skills would make him a perfect fit on one of the smartest ball movement offenses in the league.
For the Clippers, trading for a player four years older than Griffin doesn’t make much sense unless we’re still operating under the premise that Lob City wants to get rid of him to make another title run now. In that instance, we should remember that last season, Aldridge shot 35.2 percent from three-point range on a career high 1.5 attempts per game.
Pop has all but removed the long range ball from Aldridge’s repertoire this season, but on a team that needs him to score and spread the floor like the Clippers would, he’d be able to revert back to the stud who averaged a career high 23.4 points per game just a season ago. Plus, in a straight up player-for-player trade that would keep the Clippers competitive, it wouldn’t get much better than slightly downgrading from Griffin to Aldridge.
Again, this deal will never happen. The Spurs have committed to Aldridge and the Clippers would probably rather keep their younger star on the rise. But if you want to talk about juicy trade scenarios that might actually make both teams better, this is it.
Next: No. 7