There are plenty of decisions that the Los Angeles Clippers wish they could go back in time and undo. The organization received yet another reminder of one of those decisions on Wednesday when the Nets waived Keon Johnson. The Clippers acquired Johnson in 2021 on draft night in a trade with the Knicks that sent Quentin Grimes to New York.
Johnson spent half a season with the Clippers (not coming anywhere close to meeting expectations), averaging 3.5 points and 1.4 rebounds per game in 15 contests, before LA traded him to Portland as part of the Norman Powell and Robert Covington deal. He spent a season and a half with the Trail Blazers before joining the Nets in the 2023-24 season, where he was until Brooklyn waived him.
The 23-year-old is coming off his best season yet, averaging a career-high 10.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game in 79 contests for the Nets (56 starts), with 39/31/77 shooting splits. It wasn't enough to stay with the Nets amid their roster crunch after they drafted several players this past June.
Johnson is now searching for his next team, but what about the player LA traded him for?
Nets waive former Clippers guard Keon Johnson
Grimes stayed with the Knicks for two and a half seasons, coming off the bench as a rookie to replacing Evan Fournier as the starting shooting guard in the 2022-23 season. He averaged 11.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game that season, shooting 46.8% from the field and 38.6% from three.
He struggled a bit during the first stretch of his third season in New York, resulting in Tom Thibodeau moving him to the bench in favor of Donte DiVincenzo. A few months later, the Knicks traded Grimes to the Pistons. He finished the 2023-24 season in Detroit before the Pistons traded him to the Mavericks last summer.
Grimes did well during the first half of the season in Dallas, but Nico Harrison decided to trade him anyway to Philadelphia before the 2025 deadline. What happened then? Grimes went on a tear. He averaged 21.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.5 steals per game on 47/37/75 shooting splits.
You can try to chalk it up to Grimes playing for a decimated Sixers team, or a stroke of luck, but what you can't do is make the case that the Clippers were better off with Johnson. Los Angeles could use a young player like Grimes on the roster right about now. He's the 3-and-D player that teams jump at the opportunity to have.
Oh, well. It's not a past mistake that the Clippers are sweating right now, considering all the other things they have going on. But still.