Aaron Afflalo and Matt Barnes, Sacramento Kings
Aaron Afflalo
Afflalo is another player the Clippers have shown interest in acquiring before the trade deadline in previous years.
He’s having a down year in terms of his scoring output. It’s at its lowest since his second year in the league. The Los Angeles native would still be a welcome addition to the Clippers’ bench unit. Having the capability to come into the game and provide 20 minutes of accurate 3-point shooting and perimeter defense will always be a hot commodity.
Pairing Afflalo with Raymond Felton, Alan Anderson, Brandon Bass and Mo Speights gives a versatile mixture of two-way reserve players. All of the Clippers backup players are interchangeable with the starting unit and Afflalo would be no different.
Matt Barnes
The other Sacramento Kings player that Doc Rivers should think long and hard about, is Matt Barnes.
The chances of the Clippers management team making the trade to bring Barnes back to Los Angeles are slim. This is especially true considering the fact that it was a binary decision to sign either Wesley Johnson or Matt Barnes, and they chose the former.
But, Barnes brings a different style to the team and Johnson isn’t considered a key piece for the Clippers; his scattered playing time and consistent struggles are evidence of that.
In his last 5 games for Sacramento, Barnes is averaging 11 points,11 rebounds and 4 assists on 44-39-89 shooting splits. On the season, he has 7.5 ppg, 0.7 apg and 5.3 rpg on the season. He is still a very capable and willing defender.
The Kings are short on wing depth at the moment due to injury, so Wesley Johnson or Alan Anderson would likely be the best options outside of Jamal Crawford to entice Sacramento into a deal.