LA Clippers Trade Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanovic and Mike Scott to the 76ers

While leaks were aplenty during the Anthony Davis/Lakers debacle, Jerry West and the LA Clippers dropped a major trade right under our noses, sending Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanovic and Mike Scott to the Philadelphia 76ers.

The famously sneaky LA Clippers front office has struck again.

Three LA Clippers vets are headed eastward, according to a late-night Woj bomb that dropped at approximately 11:17 PM PST. In the trade, the Clippers are sending Tobias Harris, Mike Scott and Boban Marjanovic,  while the 76ers are sending rookie and 26th overall pick Landry Shamet, as well as Wilson Chandler and Mike Muscala.

As part of the deal, the Clippers will also be receiving a 2020 first-round pick, a 2021 unprotected first-round (via Miami), as well as 2021 and 2023 second-round picks.

It’s pretty clear that the Clippers front office, with Jerry West, are banking on the future, bringing in youthful players like the 21-year-old Shamet, who as of recently has been considered one of the low-key steals of the 2018 NBA Draft.

Meanwhile, Muscala brings some more height to the small ball heavy Clippers. At 6’11”, he is now tied for the tallest player on the team with Marcin Gortat — an honor that used to belong to Marjanovic. It’s unclear what the long term plans are for the 27-year-old, as he is on a $5 million expiring contract, but the stretch four/modern five has been shooting 34.5 percent from three this season, averaging 1.5 3PM – 4.5 3PA.

As for Chandler, the 31-year-old veteran will likely be starting at the 3 where Harris once was (we are operating under the assumption that Danilo Gallinari will still be starting at the 4 when he returns from injury), shooting 44 percent from the floor with a 39 percent clip beyond the three-point line. It’s definitely a downgrade from Harris, but he’s an effective player that’s also on an expiring deal.

And now we reach the portion of the article where we simply ask: “WHY?” The answer is that it is no coincidence that this happened in the immediate aftermath of talks collapsing between the Los Angeles Lakers and the New Orleans Pelicans over Anthony Davis. It is also not a secret that the LA Clippers front office have been confident in their chances of landing Kawhi Leonard in the offseason.

That said, it’s known now that the Clippers didn’t make this deal for Davis “specifically,” implying that they were open to the possibility but not aggressively pursuing him in a trade. New Orleans “could have interest in the Clippers assets prior to Thursday’s trade deadline.”

And why is Philadelphia doing this? Well, you need only look at what their starting five will look like now: Ben Simmons, JJ Redick, Harris, Jimmy Butler and Joel Embiid. The Sixers know that they have a window for a championship, and a trade like this shows they are serious to make a run.

So what does this trade make possible? Well, we believed the Clippers had two max slots in the coming offseason. Were we to trade for Davis before the deadline, we would actually have three.

It is unlikely that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander would be part of any discussions outside of Davis. And if the Clippers are to acquire him, something that had been battered about but never taken seriously thus far, then all hell is about to break loose.

What we do know is that, according to Woj, the Clippers “considered Harris… close to a max-level player in the marketplace,” which would have made it difficult to pursue their “lofty free agent aspirations.”

All this to say —  this trade may very well simply be ripping off some band-aids before we settle in for a slow end to a transitional season, or with the trade deadline imminent, the beginning of a very intense week for the LA Clippers. The early consensus seems to be that the Clippers worked their magic once again.

One thing is for sure: The Clippers don’t seem too interested in squeaking into the playoffs this year, and seem very interested in letting Jerry West have at least one more crack at a valuable rookie, if not two, while they retain as much cash as possible to get the biggest names in the NBA to come to Los Angeles. Stay tuned for our analysis, as soon as we’re done reeling.