With both teams looking to the future, the Los Angeles Clippers and Washington Wizards should look at each other as trade partners.
The Washington Wizards just lost in the first round of the NBA playoffs and will reportedly look to make changes. The Los Angeles Clippers should look at this Eastern Conference team as a potential trade partner as they both gear for the future.
There’s no way the Wizards don’t change their roster, now that their superstar John Wall has been vocal about the front office.
After their loss to the Toronto Raptors on Friday, Wall came out and said the team needed to make moves.
"“It’s pretty obvious. I don’t need to point it out. I think the way the league is going, you need athletic bigs, you need scoring off the bench, you need all of those types of things,” Wall said. “We don’t really have an athletic big.”"
Enter the Los Angeles Clippers, who happen to have an athletic big who may want out.
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DeAndre Jordan could be flipped in a sign and trade, similar to what happened with Chris Paul last summer. Obviously, this would have to happen with DJ’s consent, but his pairing alongside Wall could work well for both parties. We already covered a couple of deals earlier this year that could get him to Washington.
The best deal for the Clippers would be to get Bradley Beal. The All-Star shooting guard is young and would slot well with the roster as currently constructed. The team may have to give up a pick and take back Marcin Gortat‘s contract, but he would give the Clips a stop gap center for one year.
The other option would be to try and snag Kelly Oubre alongside some other filler. Oubre just had a rough outing in the playoffs offensively, but still shows a lot of potential at only 22 years old. The Clips just need to be weary of other parts of this trade. Taking back Gortat isn’t the end of the world, as he only has a year left on his deal, but taking Ian Mahimi would be problematic.
Either trade would benefit the Clips in the long run. The Los Angeles Clippers should call Washington, especially considering John Wall wants moves to be made.