Former Clipper shows LA why they should not have traded him

There has been a decent amount of roster turnover for the LA Clippers in the last calendar year. Of course, the James Harden trade initiated the departure of Robert Covington, Nicolas Batum and Marcus Morris. But the Clippers also dealt away some former rotation players in February at the trade deadline.

They sent away Reggie Jackson, John Wall and Luke Kennard and got back Eric Gordon, Mason Plumlee and Bones Hyland. On Sunday, one of the players LA lost at the deadline made his return to Crypto.com arena.

That former player was Luke Kennard, who put up a performance that helped lift the Grizzlies over the Clippers to give them their fourth straight loss. Kennard’s outing reminded LA why they should not have traded him in the first place.

Luke Kennard’s shooting was a cruel reminder of what the Clippers lost when they traded him

In what was just the second win of the season for Memphis, Luke Kennard put up 13 points in 24 minutes against his former team. As Clippers fans know, Kennard is a sniper from beyond the arc, and he knocked down four of his five three-point attempts on Sunday.

On a day where the Clippers did a good job of defending the three overall, Kennard’s performance was the difference. He accounted for nearly one third of the Grizzlies’ three-point makes.

While the Clippers have generally been a good three-point shooting team this season, they have struggled as of late. In their last three games, LA is shooting a league-worst 28.9% from beyond the arc. Having Luke Kennard’s services would be more than a little helpful during droughts like this one.