Clippers trade Josh Smith, Lance Stephenson must be next

Now that the Los Angeles Clippers have acted by trading Josh Smith, Lance Stephenson must surely be the next trade victim before the February 18 deadline.

Well, what could have been a more fitting way for the Josh Smith experiment to end than the Los Angeles Clippers trading him back to the Houston Rockets? It’s been blindingly obvious that Doc Rivers had no plans to make Smith a feature of his team after dealing him a DNP for 10 of the last 14 games. Even two of his appearances only happened because DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin were out and Doc had absolutely no other choices at center besides Cole Aldrich.

The signing of Smith this offseason could have been a steal. Smith lit up the Clippers in the playoffs with some uncharacteristic three-point shooting and his performance in game six was one of the most memorable moments of the postseason. Even though it was an incredibly painful one for Clippers fans, it’s a memorable one.

It was typical Doc to sign a player who was fundamental in ending his team. He even signed Pablo Prigioni this summer as well, another Rocket who contributed to the Clippers’ Western Conference semi finals downfall.

Yet, when looking past another failed experiment and the essentially nonexistent return the Clippers are receiving in exchange for Smith (draft rights to European player Maarty Leunen), the matter of the next month becomes more intriguing. It seemed as though the team would have to trade Smith with the likes of Lance Stephenson or maybe Jamal Crawford to create a deal that could at least bring L.A. something remotely valuable in return.

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Seeing as the opposite has happened, though, and this move essentially sends Smith to Houston for nothing, what else could be coming before the trade deadline on February 18?

Doc acting relatively quickly to ship out Smith pretty much guarantees that the next guy at the bottom of his list will be dealt, too. It may have been expected, but the Smith trade only adds fuel to the fire that’s prompting another move.

It seems almost inevitable that Stephenson is going to be leaving L.A. within the next few weeks. It’s no secret that despite the playmaking, athleticism and defense he has to offer, he simply hasn’t fit in as smoothly as the Clippers needed and Doc has placed him firmly at the bottom of the bench. He’s far behind everyone in the rotation including defensive liabilities like Crawford and Paul Pierce, and has now received a DNP in six of the last nine games.

Overall, Stephenson has averaged just 16 minutes per contest this season. And seeing as he can barely get a minute in edgeways when the Clippers’ bench (despite it’s improvement) isn’t exactly the best in the league, it’s clear Doc doesn’t have plans for him as a piece to help spark a run in the rest of the regular season or the playoffs.

Dec 7, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Los Angeles Clippers forward Lance Stephenson (1) against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. The Clippers defeated the Timberwolves 110-106. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports /

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Now that Doc has simply removed Smith in return for draft rights to Maarty Leunen while paying the remaining $460,000 of his minimum salary, the Clippers essentially got nothing in return. They were even considering avoiding a trade and just waiving him instead, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. So, while it’s hard to see who Doc is going to go after, it surely must be a package deal now that the team have even fewer trade assets.

Crawford and his instant offense still has enough value to be a singular trade target to a team in desperate need of scoring somewhere, but if Stephenson is alone, he’s only going to bring a minimal return at best.

That being said, even if a team isn’t willing to take a risk on his talents, his contract is appealing when bearing in mind the plethora of high-end talent hitting free agency this summer. Stephenson has a team option on his contract for 2016-17, meaning that whichever franchise may take him on can just let his $9.4 million salary go and use the money to pursue more talent that’s available on the market.

Plus, as Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report has discussed this week, the Clippers are still aiming to trade Smith (that didn’t take long to materialize) and Stephenson, the latter of which should by no means be out of the question now. Here’s what Bucher had to say:

"The Clippers, I’m told, simply want to go with addition by subtraction. With both Lance Stephenson being there and Josh Smith. They would just like their chemistry to be better. Those guys are dissatisfied with their roles. They feel like if they could possibly move them along that it would make them better in the long run, particularly in light of what their goals are. They are looking to play for a championship and we know how important chemistry and having everybody pull on the rope is to that sort of pursuit."

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The possible allure of Stephenson’s contract aside that may tempt teams desperate to spend this summer, it’s hard to see that the Clippers can pull off a worthwhile trade with that asset alone. Perhaps if they package him with Crawford, they can ditch a wing player who isn’t being used anyway in Lance and look for an upgrade. If this happens, though, they still leave themselves with lacking depth in their frontcourt, which is why pursuing a big man should really be the priority.

Let’s be honest, the 10-day contract the team are giving to center Jeff Ayres isn’t going to result in much. To solidify their bench, they could really use a backup big if there’s any way they can make it happen.

It was easy to expect that the Clippers were going to make a trade before the deadline, and now that expectation has been confirmed. With Smith dealt away by himself, the team’s bench still isn’t fixed, Stephenson is useless if he isn’t played, and a new big is needed.

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This surely can’t be the end for whatever Doc has in mind.

Look out, Lance, you’ll probably be next.

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