The Los Angeles Clippers were expected to be key players near the upcoming trade deadline. However, they started early by trading away superstar Blake Griffin in stunning fashion.
Most of the NBA expected the Los Angeles Clippers to play a major role in the dealings surrounding the upcoming trade deadline. With DeAndre Jordan and Lou Williams both set to hit the free agent market, many teams assumed that the Clippers would try to leverage those two players into future assets.
While Williams and Jordan might still end up moving in future deals, they were not part of the Clippers’ recent blockbuster deal. Just 212 days after signing a five-year, $173 million contract extension, Blake Griffin was shipped off to the Detroit Pistons (along with Willie Reed and Brice Johnson) for Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley and two future draft picks.
The move was stunning beyond the concept of trading their franchise cornerstone. The move does not signal a rebuild. However, it also does not signal that the team is desperate to move up in the Western Conference standings. The Los Angeles Clippers were ninth in the West when they made this trade, and the move itself does not indicate a clear direction beyond a desire to keep running in place.
Farewell, Blake Griffin
In the 39 seasons before the Los Angeles Clippers drafted Blake Griffin with the first pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, the team made the playoffs seven times. They failed to make the playoffs the year after drafting Griffin, who missed his first season with a broken kneecap he suffered during the preseason.
Griffin took the league by storm in his sophomore season, winning Rookie of the Year and making the All-Star team. It is no coincidence that the historically forlorn Clippers managed to swing a trade for Chris Paul immediately after Griffin’s stellar rookie campaign. The team then proceeded to make the playoffs in each of Griffin and Paul’s six years together.
Related Story: NBA Trade Grades - Clippers deal Blake Griffin to Pistons
Blake Griffin was more than the franchise cornerstone for this Clippers team. He was the turning point in the history of a downtrodden franchise that went from afterthought to Lob City brilliance in his time in Los Angeles.
Even as recent injuries might have harmed Blake’s value to the team, this trade may haunt the Clippers for years to come. The tired old adage of “the NBA is a business” will be bandied about after this deal, but the Clippers built their whole free agency pitch to Griffin around him being a lifetime Clipper with his number in the rafters — and then mercilessly shipped him off less than a year later. Paul George might have been interested in coming to Los Angeles to play with the Clippers before this trade, but it is hard to see him wanting to do so after this.
The newcomers
According to ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Los Angeles Clippers received a combination of players and assets in return for Blake Griffin. Detroit will send Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley and Boban Marjanovic along with their protected 2018 first round pick and their 2019 second round pick.
Harris is in the midst of a breakout season and is certainly the main asset that the Clippers got back in the deal. He is averaging a career-high 18.1 points per game to go along with his career-best 40.9 percent shooting from beyond the arc. However, Harris only has one more year on his contract before entering free agency.
Avery Bradley is a defensive menace, and his first NBA coach was Doc Rivers. However, Bradley is in the midst of a down season. Furthermore, he will be a free agent at the end of this season. Detroit’s first round pick is top-four protected this season; however, the team is currently ninth in the Eastern Conference. That selection will likely be in the late lottery at best.
Future outlook
After moving on from Blake Griffin, the Los Angeles Clippers are almost certainly going to make other trades before the deadline. Indeed, Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the team is likely to continue to look to package DeAndre Jordan and Lou Williams in return for future assets.
The Clippers are also, at the moment, set to be paying the dreaded repeater tax for their many years over the luxury tax limit. That threshold will limit their trade options going forward, as the team will look to shed salary to make it under that line before Feb. 8.
The Los Angeles Clippers convinced Blake Griffin to stay in town with a presentation centered around his future place in the Clippers’ pantheon. The team may eventually decide to retire Blake Griffin’s No. 32 jersey anyway. After all, his arrival did undoubtedly change the course of the franchise for the better.
Next: 2017-18 Week 16 NBA Power Rankings
They will have to hope that his departure does not doom them to the long years of aimless wandering the team endured before Blake Griffin first put on his Clippers jersey.