NBA Trade Grades: Clippers deal Blake Griffin to Pistons

Los Angeles Clippers

In July, the Clippers pitched Blake Griffin on becoming the greatest player in the franchise’s history, even going as far as immersing him in maze and a fake jersey retirement ceremony to paint the full picture for him. They wound up signing him to a massive five-year, $175 million extension.

Just six months later, they’re unceremoniously shipping him off to Detroit for a fringe All-Star wing, an upcoming unrestricted free agent, a backup big and a first-rounder that won’t be as valuable if Griffin and Andre Drummond mesh.

Blowing it up makes some sense for the Clippers. Griffin will turn 29 years old in March, and considering his injury history, his value was never going to get any higher. There’s no question he’s still a star, averaging 22.6 points, 7.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game, but Lob City’s window for title contention was over the moment Chris Paul left.

As such, jumpstarting the rebuild by dealing Griffin, followed by DeAndre Jordan and Lou Will next, makes sense. At least this way, they were able to re-sign him and get something in return, rather than simply losing him in free agency last summer.

However, the return for one of the biggest names in the game is undoubtedly underwhelming — even in the context of unloading Griffin’s massive contract and remaining flexible but competitive.

Harris is in the middle of his best season yet, averaging a career-high 18.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game on .451/.409/.846 shooting splits, but he only has one year left on his contract beyond 2017-18.

Bradley is a solid two-way wing, but even as he continues to knock down 38.1 percent of his 3-pointers, his field goal percentage has dipped to 40.9 percent, his defensive metrics don’t back up his reputation as a stifling defender and his 15.0 points per game hardly make him the blue chip acquisition you’d hope for in a blockbuster deal.

He’s also an unrestricted free agent this summer, which means he could just be a rental for a Clippers team that will be relying on chemistry and Milos Teodosic-Boban Marjanovic pick-and-rolls to make the playoffs. They could re-sign him given that he’s only 27, however.

The first round pick from Detroit would fall near the end of the lottery if the season ended today, currently projected at No. 13. That makes it valuable, but will hardly be expected to yield a blue chip prospect.

Blowing it up is not an unexpected course for the Clippers, but doing so right when they were getting healthy — and were only one game out of eighth place in the Western Conference and two games out of sixth — for a relatively ho-hum return is fairly stunning.

Since this is just the first domino to fall, it’s hard to judge too severely until we see what the Clippers get for Jordan and Williams, and how they look to rebuild in 2019 when so many of these contracts will come off the books.

Grade: C+