What comes next for Jerome Robinson?
Question via @angelaliz_ and @jonathg32
Since the LA Clippers acquired Landry Shamet in the Tobias Harris trade, there have been a lot of questions popping up about Jerome Robinson‘s future with the team. And a lot of those questions are perfectly reasonable — after all, it seems like Shamet has gobbled up just about all of Robinson’s minutes, and was even pushed into the starting lineup in LA’s most recent game.
I think Robinson could certainly be trade bait this summer, but that goes for a lot of LA’s players. I’d probably consider Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to be the only true “untouchable” player of the bunch, since the Clippers seem to want him to be their franchise point guard.
Danilo Gallinari, I would think, could also be trade bait. He’s probably the only player that I’d view as more likely to be traded than Robinson, but there are different reasons why each would be dealt.
Trading Gallinari would substantially open up LA’s books this summer in their pursuit of a superstar, while Robinson could be used to get back into the first round, assuming they make the playoffs.
However, to answer the second part of this question — I do believe Robinson is part of LA’s future plans, so I don’t think a trade involving him is really all that likely.
Robinson being taken at 13th in last year’s draft is almost all the information we need to break this down. I think he could easily be a future starter, but the Clippers aren’t forcing it this season because he was never meant to be that right away — he’s always been more of a long-term option. They’re taking their time to develop him, and I think we’ll see him take on a much larger role next season so long as he’s prepared.
To be perfectly clear: I think he could be traded, but it would come as a big surprise — even with the addition of Shamet.