The Chris Paul trade ahead of the 2017-18 season
As aforementioned, it’s well known that the Clippers were far from a bad team when headed by Chris Paul. However, five consecutive years of failing to make it to the Western Conference Finals despite three All-Star caliber players with varying skill sets clearly called for a change.
Although an assortment of chemistry issues were definitely in play, many attribute the relative lack of success of the Lob City era teams to a deficiency in the depth department.
Although Jamal Crawford was a multiple Sixth Man of the Year award winner, they simply couldn’t find the right combination of pieces to put them over the top.
With just one year left on his contract, years of chemistry issues and age in mind, the Los Angeles Clippers pulled the trigger on a blockbuster deal that sent Chris Paul to the Houston Rockets in return for Lou Williams, Patrick Beverley, Montrezl Harrell, Sam Dekker, Darrun Hilliard, DeAndre Liggins, Kyle Wiltjer, a 2018 first-round pick and $661,000.
Although they got mostly role players in return, the Clippers now had much-improved depth and signified a direction for the franchise’s future.
As it turns out, few could predict just how well Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell would end up playing and, at this time, they still had Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan on the team as well.
Although he’s 32, Williams is playing the best basketball of his career and proved time and time again last season that he was one of the best scorers in the league.
Harrell is currently producing at an extremely effective level in the fairly modest amount of minutes he’s playing and Patrick Beverley provides some much needed assistance on the defensive end and in the playmaking department.
This, however, was not the only move the front office would make.