LA Clippers Make Rare Crosstown Deal
I’ll be honest with you here — I really don’t know how the Clippers pulled this one off.
One day after acquiring him from the Philadelphia 76ers, the Clippers shipped out Mike Muscala (who probably wouldn’t have done much this season, anyway) to their crosstown rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers, in exchange for Michael Beasley and Ivica Zubac.
According to the Orange County Register’s Mirjam Swanson, the deal was especially rare, and a first for the LA Clippers — the two teams haven’t made a trade with each other since 1983, when the Clippers received Norm Nixon in exchange for Byron Scott. That’s back when the team was still stationed in San Diego.
History aside, the Clippers absolutely crushed this trade. Muscala wasn’t a fantastic piece to begin with, yet somehow LA was able to turn him into one of the NBA’s most promising young centers in Ivica Zubac.
The 21-year-old has been having a great season for the Lakers, averaging 8.5 points and 4.9 rebounds across 15.6 minutes per game. But when you look at his numbers as a starter, which the Clippers will most likely use him as, the trade begins to look even more lopsided.
In 12 starts this season, Zubac is averaging nearly 12 points and 6.0 rebounds in just over 20 minutes per game. He had his best game a few weeks ago, when he went for 24 points and 16 rebounds in a win over the Phoenix Suns.
Yes, he’ll be a restricted free agent this summer and yes, he’s got a long way to go, but the future looks promising for the young Zubac, and he may be someone the Clippers could return next season so long as he doesn’t fetch too large of an offer in free agency. I’d especially think the latter since Doc Rivers and Co. seem pretty high on what they’ve seen from the big man so far.
If you’re the Clippers, you’re more than okay with ditching Muscala for a few months of Zubac, even if that’s all you get.