Hope is one of those things that can inspire a squad toward contention. It’s also one of the largest fallacies that can sink your team into a hole so deep that even the collective minds of all the best NBA GM’s could not dig you out of it. In the NBA Western Conference, the Warriors, the Rockets, the Spurs, and even the Thunder are capable of grasping the NBA title. The LA Clippers however, cannot.
Call me a pessimist, but what exactly makes one think that the Clippers could ever compete? They could barely get to the Western Conference Finals with a superstar in Chris Paul and now they are playing without him. Instead, they opted to sign the coach’s son, Austin Rivers, to a lucrative contract. With the core being Rivers, Lou Williams, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan, there should be the mindset of a rebuild, not one of trying to compete.
I will admit, Williams shattered all expectations this season by posting an All Star caliber stat line of 23.3 points and 5.6 assists. Yet, he is not the answer to a championship run. Far from it. In the Clippers best interest, they need to trade all three of their major assets to build quickly towards the future as this year’s draft could be one of the best in recent memory.
Williams is certainly breaking new ground with his play. Previously known as a one-dimensional scorer, he is now a *better* one-dimensional scorer. Well, it’s still good—great in fact—thinking of his trade value. To get the best value, they need to trade him to a team that has a “win now” mentality; the team that would fit this mold is definitely one like the New Orleans Pelicans. They may be garbage in terms of their team placement, yet they need a way to convince Demarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis to stay. Considering that, the Clippers should ask for the Pelicans’ first-round pick. Williams is a bit old to help the Pelicans in the long run, but he is technically in his prime at 31, so asking for a simple first rounder and a second rounder the Pelicans have from the Chicago Bulls doesn’t really seem that bad for both sides. The Pelicans get to have their consistent outside threat while the Clippers have a potential young star to build around or at least a somewhat good role player.
But Williams isn’t the pot sweetener, is he? Of course not. It’s the versatile power forward Griffin and the perpetually competing Defensive Player of the Year candidate Jordan. There is a genuine question to be asked why I group these two together when Williams got his own paragraph. The honest answer is that if Williams leaves, Jordan and Griffin don’t really care. But if one of the two leaves, the other will too. That’s the type of brotherly bond these two have. I think the Clippers will either need to package them together or work out a three-team deal where they send Griffin and Jordan out at the same time.
Realistically, there are only a few teams that have the cap space to get these two together without blowing up the team: the Chicago Bulls, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Phoenix Suns. The issue is that all three would not go after these two players as they all have their young core setup. So now, the idea of three-team trades come in and will make for some extremely interesting alternatives. The Houston Rockets want a more consistent force on the inside and while Clint Capela is nice, Jordan is a monster. The LA Lakers are simply an air-headed organization that breaks to the whims of their even nuttier fan base. To get a star like Griffin means everything to an organization like this, especially with the burst in revenue. The potential trade here would be the LA Clippers receiving two draft picks, one protected and one not: Ryan Anderson, Kentavious-Caldwell Pope, Jordan Clarkson, and Capela. The Lakers would get Griffin while the Rockets get Jordan. The Clippers get nice young players to strengthen their future while the draft picks further supplement that ideal. The Lakers get their next pseudo-franchise face and claim he will bring in a new era of Showtime Lakers or some bogus statement like they usually do. The Rockets get to look like an even better version of themselves in the West while having a decisive advantage over the Warriors and Cavaliers in the Finals as they would then have by far the best shot blocker and rebounder out of those three teams.
Paul left to compete. Griffin has strained certain relationships due to his childishness. Jordan almost left for the Mavericks a year prior. So many red flags, yet the smartest response from the LA Clippers was to apparently giving Rivers a contract. How ridiculous is that? Stop beating around the bush—everyone useful is going to leave. Trade the pieces while they’re in their prime and rebuild the organization from the ground up.