The LA Clippers have traded Tobias Harris (among others) to the Philadelphia 76ers. We break down each piece returned from the reported deal.
Tobias Harris‘ time with the LA Clippers is all but officially a thing of the past, and the same goes for fan-favorite center Boban Marjanovic and three-ball extraordinaire Mike Scott.
News broke around 11:17 PM PST (and 2:17 AM for myself) that Harris and Co. would be dealt to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Landry Shamet, Wilson Chandler, Mike Muscala and four future draft selections. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski had the scoop first, as he often does.
The news came as a shock to Clippers fans, coming just a few hours after Harris had hit the game-winning shot to put away the Charlotte Hornets. The team had reportedly had plans to re-sign Harris in the summer for a healthy amount of money, and a trade seemed unlikely.
But as we saw last season, no player is truly ever off the table if the price is right — and in this case, it was for the LA Clippers.
By shipping out Harris, the Clippers have one less difficult decision to make this summer, and can devote more of their attention to signing big-name guys like Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant come July.
It hurts to see him go, especially since he’ll be bringing his pal Boban along for the ride, but Harris has a better chance to win in Philadelphia — and a better chance to get the money that he truly deserves.
It isn’t all doom and gloom for the Clippers, though. In fact, it’s not hard to argue that they won this trade, thanks to the savvy of Jerry West and the rest of LA’s front office. The team will get some very solid players in return for Harris, as well as one of the more-coveted draft selections in the next few years: An unprotected 2021 first-rounder from the Miami Heat.
In the following slides, I’ll be highlighting each piece returned by the Clippers in the Harris trade, and breaking down their future with the team. Get ready, and get excited.
Landry Shamet
If ever there was a player to be the next J.J. Redick, Landry Shamet is the guy.
The 21-year-old rookie has been shooting the lights out this season in Philadelphia, averaging a near-41 percent rate from three-point range on 4.5 attempts per game. That’s 8.0 attempts per 36, and assuming Shamet continues to play at an elite level, it won’t be long before he’s regularly getting those kind of minutes.
Shamet is also about as perfect and modern of a shooter as the Clippers could have hoped to receive. According to Basketball-Reference, Shamet has taken just 43 midrange looks all season, compared to 47 at the rim and 239 from deep. He almost exclusively takes high-percentage, high-reward shots, and the LA Clippers are going to have a lot of fun using him in offensive sets.
Shamet’s best game of the season came on January 8, when he scored a career-high 29 points in 23 minutes in a win over the Washington Wizards. Shamet made eight of his 14 three-point attempts in that one, and made all five of his attempts at the stripe.
Like Redick, though, Shamet isn’t exactly a stellar defender. Among 484 qualified players this season, Shamet ranks 466th in defensive real plus-minus, according to ESPN.
He is very quick, so I wouldn’t expect him to get beat off the dribble that often. But if he’s playing one-on-one, don’t expect him to make many stops, either.
Shamet signed a rookie deal with the 76ers this summer, worth about $9 million in total. The final two years of the contract, worth the bulk of the money, are a team option, meaning the Clippers would have the choice to opt-in or out of his deal at that point. Because he’s such a cheap asset, LA should be able to keep him around for many years to come, and will certainly do so if he continues to produce like he is now.
It’s unclear where Shamet will fit into the rotation right now, but I also wouldn’t expect the LA Clippers to stop making deals just yet. With a plethora of guards still on the roster, look for at least one of them to be dealt ahead of Thursday’s deadline.
Wilson Chandler
Chandler’s name is one that should be well-known by LA Clippers fans — he’s been involved in trade and free agency conversations for years now, dating back to the barely-post-Matt Barnes era. He’s a solid vet that can shoot, but he’s likely nothing more than a short-term replacement.
So far this season, Chandler is shooting 39 percent from deep on 3.3 attempts per game. He’s only shot a higher percentage from that range in one season, when he converted a career-high 41 percent during the 2012-2013 season with the Denver Nuggets.
Assuming Danilo Gallinari isn’t dealt by Thursday’s deadline, he’ll be reunited with an old teammate as well — he and Chandler played together for the New York Knicks not long after they were both drafted, and they were both sent to the Denver Nuggets in the same trade back in 2011. It wasn’t until Gallinari was traded to the Clippers that the two were separated after nine seasons together.
Chandler will likely take Harris’ old starting role, alongside Gallinari, who is expected to return on Thursday in Indianapolis. Like Gallinari, he’s more injury prone than the average player, as he’s already missed 18 games this season for Philadelphia. He’s out now, and could be for the next few weeks, so there’s a chance we don’t see him suit up for LA until after the All-Star break.
But like I said earlier, Chandler is likely nothing more than a short-term replacement — that is, he almost certainly won’t return beyond this season. He’s on an expiring deal worth about $13 million, and assuming the Clippers still have interest in Leonard or Durant, his 20-or-so games he plays in LA this season will likely be his last.
For now, though, Chandler looks to be a solid starting wing that’s capable of knocking down the occasional three-point shot.
Mike Muscala
Muscala is the third and final player included in the deal, but like Chandler, I wouldn’t expect his face to be one seen in LA beyond this season.
A 6’11” big, Muscala is a solid floor-spacer with an impressive three-point shot. He’s connected on 34 percent of his attempts so far this season, and he takes 4.2 per game, making up roughly 80 percent of his total attempts per game.
Like the previous two players included in the deal, Muscala isn’t necessarily known for his defense. Despite his tall frame, the 27-year-old is averaging well under a block per game. He’ll be relied upon for his shooting and rebounding, and not much else.
Muscala likely won’t have much of a role in LA’s rotation, either. Chances are he takes over Boban’s old role, but Muscala doesn’t have the size or strength to do what Marjanovic does — meaning he’ll probably be behind Marcin Gortat and Montrezl Harrell in the rotation the rest of the way.
His three-point shooting ability makes him an interesting player though, and it’s possible he finds his way into some of LA’s deeper offensive sets.
Overall, he’s a solid big — I just wouldn’t expect him to do a whole lot with the LA Clippers.
Future Draft Picks
The LA Clippers returned some great players, but this may be the area where they truly shined in the trade.
Philadelphia sent four draft picks over for the Harris package, two of which are first-round selections. That’s already nice by itself, but when you take a closer look at the years and protections involved with the picks, it starts looking even better.
Let’s look at the first-round picks first. One of them is Philadelphia’s own, a 2020 first-rounder that reportedly has no protections. Now, the Sixers are going to be good next year, so this will likely fall in the mid-to-upper 20s. Still though, a first-round pick is a first-round pick, and it’s one more than the Clippers had.
The next first-round selection is an unprotected 2021 pick via the Miami Heat, and boy is this a big one. Assuming the Heat don’t do well that season, the Clippers will have a lottery pick on their hands — which is something they certainly won’t have on their own, if all goes according to plan this summer. The 2021 class is already shaping up to be a great one too.
LA also managed two second-round selections, one in 2021 and another in 2023. These obviously aren’t as valuable as the other two picks returned, but still important pieces (and assets) that the Clippers can use at their own discretion.
In the end, this trade may end up hurting a lot of fans, but it’s the right move for the future of the franchise. The LA Clippers returned some solid pieces for a player on an expiring contract, and are continuing to build themselves up while they pursue superstar free agents this summer.
For now, the last thing we can say is this: Trust the Logo.