2) LA Clippers S&T Partner: Charlotte Hornets
Of all the options on my list, this is the one that makes the least amount of sense, but I think it makes enough sense that it’s worth thinking about for the LA Clippers.
Hey look, it’s Lou and Trezz again! Again, this operates under the assumption that Trezz signs for something in the $12 Million a year range.
The reasoning for the Clippers here is similar to the Fred VanVleet trade. The Clippers get a ballhandler like Kawhi wants (and we need). Rozier is also a great shooter who could play off ball when needed – he shot 45.7% on catch and shoot threes last year, and 40.7% on threes overall.
Terry’s a fine player. He’s just not worth the contract the Hornets gave him. The Clippers would care a little bit less about that; we’re in total win-now mode, and we’re not figuring to have cap space for the next two years anyway.
The question is, why do the Hornets do this?
And honestly, that’s a pretty good question. They have the cap space; if they want Trezz, they can just sign him outright and still have space. They don’t have to make any kind of trade to get him.
The selling point here is getting off of Terry Rozier’s contract. They get the player they want (if they do want Trezz), and they get off a pretty overpaid player’s money. Sure, they’ll be hardcapped, but they’ll still be something like $64 Million under the hard cap, and they’re not going into the luxury tax next season.
And in the following season, when the hard cap goes away, they’ll be off of Lou’s deal too, and they’ll have turned Rozier’s $19 Million into Trezz’s $12 Million or so, which is much nicer.
They’ve got Devonta Graham who took a leap last year and a high draft pick in this draft. They have options at the 1, and Terry Rozier may be slowing down the development of their young talent.
When the Hornets traded for Rozier, they praised his production in his bench role and felt he was ready to take the next step forward and become a starter. If they feel the same about Trezz, this deal could at least be worth asking about.