fbpx
Skip to main content

Eight players who could be traded before the NBA draft

NBA draft, Carmelo Anthony

DeAndre Jordan

Courtesy of USA Today Images

The Clippers have to blow it up. After failing to make it past the second round with this core, with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin free agents in waiting (both have early termination options this summer), that blowup may not be voluntary, but it will happen. No matter what Paul and Griffin (and Doc Rivers) do, the Clippers should be looking to reboot. Trading Jordan is a step in that process.

In Jordan, the Clippers would be selling one of the best pick and roll finishers in basketball, along with a top-three defensive center. Even for a year — Jordan has a player option after next season — that makes Jordan one of the premier options on the trade market if the Clippers decide to make him available.

The problem, of course, is that the Clipper might not blow it up. Rivers has indicated he wants Paul, Griffin and Jordan back next year. And who knows what Paul and Griffin are thinking about doing this summer. Bringing everyone back would be a grave error. The goal here is to win a title and this team has not come close to that. Running it back — accepting 50-win seasons and second-round exits until someone gets fed up and leaves — isn’t just a disservice to Clipper fans tired of having their hearts broken, it’s a disservice to the future of the franchise.

Trading Jordan now will shift things in a positive direction regardless of what happens with Paul and Griffin. If they leave, it will give the Clippers a head-start on their rebuild. If they stay, the players they get in return for Jordan could vault Clippers past the second round. Either way, the Clippers are better off with a trade. They can’t be content to keep doing the same thing every year.

Mentioned in this article:

More About: