When the LA Clippers traded Patrick Beverley, Rajon Rondo, and Daniel Oturu for Eric Bledsoe, the hope was that Bledsoe would look much better since he’ll now be at the one.
Obviously, Bledsoe had a down year after playing some of his basketball in Milwaukee when he headed to New Orleans as a two-guard. The thought process behind the trade was that they’d be getting the old Bledsoe back on their team, and would be able to thin out the surplus that the Clips had at point guard by making a trade where they could send both Beverley and Rondo.
So far, Bledsoe has been playing point guard primarily. However, he has been pretty awful on the offensive end. He’s averaging 9.2 points per game while shooting career-worsts in field goal percentage (35.7%) and three-point percentage (15%).
As of right now, the LA Clippers are losing the Eric Bledsoe-Patrick Beverley trade.
Eric Bledsoe has been good on defense overall, but the LA Clippers clearly still miss Patrick Beverley’s defensive presence.
In the first game of the season, the Clippers were lit up by a superstar in Steph Curry who Pat Bev has been able to contain in the past. Even when Bledsoe had three steals and a block in that game (as well as his best offensive game of the year), the Clippers were still feeling the loss of Beverley when Curry was going insane.
Since then, they’ve continued to struggle guarding top tier point guards in Ja Morant and Damian Lillard in one of the games they played against the Blazers. The defense hasn’t been the same without Beverley pestering the opposition and pressuring the ball relentlessly.
That always created fast break opportunities that haven’t been there this year as well. The team in general seems to not have the mental edge it used to have when Beverley was here. He was a true culture creator for this franchise and we miss his impact on the locker room right now.
That’s not even to mention what Bev is doing when it comes to shooting the basketball. He’s never shot it better, as he’s shooting 47.8% from the field and 44.4% from deep.
The team doesn’t have the intensity it did when Beverley was around, and while Bledsoe has overall been solid on defense, he hasn’t had it offensively so far. There’s no reason to panic, as there’s still plenty of season left, but the Clippers are currently losing the trade.