Breaking: Los Angeles Clippers trade Wesley Johnson, waive Jawun Evans
The Los Angeles Clippers have traded Wesley Johnson for Alexis Ajinca and will waive him along with Jawun Evans
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Los Angeles Clippers have traded forward Wesley Johnson to the New Orleans Pelicans for Alexis Ajinca. Ajinca will be waived once the trade becomes official. The team will also waive Jawun Evans. This will bring the team down to 15 active players on the roster.
These moves come right before the deadline to have rosters trimmed prior to the beginning of the regular season. While moving both Johnson and Evans was unexpected, many felt that the latter had proven himself as an NBA talent last season. News had come out that the team was having a hard time in deciding who to move on from.
Jawun Evans
Unfortunately for Evans, he found himself at the lowest spot on the totem pole of guards on the Clippers’ roster. With the team drafting two guards in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jerome Robinson, Evans just could not keep up.
The team reportedly did shop Evans around, but could not find any takers. He will now likely hit the waiver wire, where many teams may try to add him to their roster.
Although his time with the Clippers is at an end, it seems like his time in the league is not. After being selected in the second round of the 2017 NBA Draft, Evans averaged 4.8 points, 2.1 assists and 1.8 rebounds in his 48 appearances last season.
Wesley Johnson
Johnson, who was the last member of the Lob City era, had not done a lot to prove himself over the last few seasons. The writing on the wall became apparent when the team brought in both Mike Scott and Luc Mbah a Moute this summer to shore up the wing position.
Johnson averaged 5.1 points per game on 40% shooting in his three seasons with the Clippers. He notably performed better on Wednesdays, having us deem them “Wesdays”.
The Los Angeles Clippers take on the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night as both teams open their 2018-19 campaigns.