Los Angeles gets:
2019 2nd round pick
Well that escalated quickly. After the #WojBomb dropped at 3:02 PST, Kevin O'Connor had most of the details on the return at 3:12, and then Woj reported that the deal was done at 3:30. I still haven't seen the exact details on which 2019 second is involved since Detroit has their own and a complicated one from either Cleveland, Houston, Orlando, and Portland, but that's a trivial detail in the wake of this shocking trade that came out of nowhere. LA went from selling Griffin on being the first Clipper with his jersey retired to shipping him to Detroit just six months later, so keep that in mind the next time there's fan outrage over a player leaving in free agency.
It's interesting re-reading my quick reaction to his deal in July and how notable it was that he got the 5th year of guaranteed money but not a no trade clause, and now the Clips are taking advantage of that to get out of that large contract. Since he actually took slightly less than his maximum salary this season (likely to help the team stay under the Luxury Tax), his trade bonus will make up for that $215,000 difference to increase his overall cap numbers by $860,000 overall to what I've included above and slightly cushion the blow for him. Taking on all of that long-term money for a constant injury risk who is about to turn 29 and has already missed 16 games this year seems like a shortsighted move by Detroit. That's the problem when your head coach is also the president of basketball operations like Stan Van Gundy is, especially after the team has lost 12 out of 15 since Reggie Jackson's injury and are struggling to fill their brand new downtown arena.
The Clippers held their free agent meeting with Griffin at Staples. They lowered the lights in the arena and raised his jersey to the rafters as a choir sang. The PA announcer said: "Tonight, we’re honoring a lifelong Clipper."— Lee Jenkins (@SI_LeeJenkins) January 29, 2018
It's interesting re-reading my quick reaction to his deal in July and how notable it was that he got the 5th year of guaranteed money but not a no trade clause, and now the Clips are taking advantage of that to get out of that large contract. Since he actually took slightly less than his maximum salary this season (likely to help the team stay under the Luxury Tax), his trade bonus will make up for that $215,000 difference to increase his overall cap numbers by $860,000 overall to what I've included above and slightly cushion the blow for him. Taking on all of that long-term money for a constant injury risk who is about to turn 29 and has already missed 16 games this year seems like a shortsighted move by Detroit. That's the problem when your head coach is also the president of basketball operations like Stan Van Gundy is, especially after the team has lost 12 out of 15 since Reggie Jackson's injury and are struggling to fill their brand new downtown arena.
Considering that Andre Drummond still has over $76.3 million due to him over the next three seasons plus a $28.75 million player option for '20-21, that's a lot of the salary cap tied up between their front court. Griffin shouldn't have to adjust his game too much after playing his whole career with a similar interior player in DeAndre Jordan, but this still isn't an ideal pairing since he will have to be more of the perimeter player in this pairing. Losing their two leading scorers who have taken the most 3's on the team in Harris and Bradley won't make things easy with a lack of space around the new front court, either. At least Reed and Johnson are intriguing throw-ins on expiring contracts after the latter's rookie scale option was declined for next year. Lastly, the Pistons were $2,745,417 and $8,745,417 under the Tax and their hard cap (due to using the full MLE), respectively, and now they only have $2,023,964 and $8,023,964 in room.
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| Don't sleep on what Harris can do for LA. |
Similarly, the Clippers went from $122,579 and $6,122,579 under those same thresholds to $629,032 and $6,629,032, so now they have more flexibility to fill their lost roster spot, perhaps with one of their impressive two-way players: C.J. Williams or Tyrone Wallace. That financial flexibility overall and the draft picks gained is why I prefer their side of this trade, even if they are giving up the best player involved. Harris is still only 25 and on a nice contract for a player of his caliber; Bradley can provide what they lost when Patrick Beverley went down, for the rest of this season at least; and Marjanovic is a quality backup center who could become more if Jordan ends up being the next to go. The team is surprisingly still only one game out of a playoff spot despite their rash of injuries, but I would expect Jordan and Lou Williams to also be traded by the deadline since they could walk away in free agency this summer.
They'll probably see how this new lineup does over the next week and a half to see what direction to go in, but now they at least have more options moving forward. They could eventually go into a full rebuild and even flip Harris by next year and have Danilo Gallinari as the only big contract on the books, especially since their 2019 1st round pick is lottery protected for the next two drafts before converting to just a 2022 2nd rounder. Or if they feel everything fits well enough to try and compete, they now have a mid-ranged 1st to trade since they were limited by the Stepien Rule that prevents teams from being without 1st rounders in back to back years like they were potentially facing, and then they could re-sign Jordan, Bradley, and/or Williams. Clearing enough space to make a run at LeBron James or another max free agent is probably out of the question, but it's at least on the table now that Griffin's money is cleared. Losing one of the best players in franchise history might be a tough pill to swallow for the Clippers, but it looks like the decision making group of Jerry West, Lawrence Frank, and Michael Winger know what they're doing.
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