Trade Deadline Buzz: Is Blake Griffin really off the table?
The Clippers are far from shopping Blake Griffin before the NBA trade deadline, but the day of reckoning for this franchise is coming soon.
By
Ken Berger
•
4 min read
Doc Rivers couldn't have been clearer about the Clippers' intentions with Blake Griffin.
"We're not trading Blake," said Rivers, the man who would have to sign off on such a decision as the team's head coach and president.
I'm not trying to cause trouble, but notice one thing, though: Rivers didn't say the Clippers are never trading Griffin. Because in the NBA, you can never say never -- about almost any player.
If a fellow executive calls Rivers at 2:30 p.m. ET on Thursday -- 30 minutes before the trade deadline -- and offers a premium first-round pick that Rivers could use to replenish L.A.'s talent base for the future, plus a collection of talent and assets that would set up the Clippers better for long-term success, would he feel more beholden to the above statement, or to doing what's best for the team?
You better believe it would be the latter.
Having said that, the Clippers are far from shopping Griffin; they're barely entertaining calls at this point beyond the courtesy of picking up the phone and listening. But the day of reckoning for this franchise is coming soon -- not Thursday by any means, but this summer, depending on how far this group can advance in the postseason.
If it all adds up to another dose of postseason disappointment for a team that has yet to advance to a Western Conference Finals since the blockbuster acquisition of Chris Paul in 2011, then all bets are off. The environment would be much more favorable for L.A. to consider a blockbuster deal involving Griffin than it is now.
That's why a far more likely scenario for the Clippers is a smaller deal for Magic forward Channing Frye, league sources confirmed. Frye could provide another floor-spacing option besides J.J. Redick, and would be a vehicle for the Clippers to divest themselves of Lance Stephenson, who would be waived by the Magic.
Just remember: Nobody will ever say never when it comes to trading a player, and that's not what Rivers said.
Raptors president Masai Ujiri continues to be one of the most aggressive executives in trade talks, feeling that Toronto is one piece away from challenging Cleveland in the East, league sources told CBS Sports.
Ujiri is looking to land an athletic power forward such as the Nets' Thaddeus Young, the Nuggets' Kenneth Faried or the Suns' Markieff Morris, sources said. All three options would represent a talent upgrade for the Raptors, while also giving Ujiri cost certainty as they're all signed through 2018-19 on pre-cap-spike deals. (Young, though, has a player option for the final year of his deal.)
The most valuable carrot the Raptors can dangle is the Knicks' first-round pick, which will be the lesser of New York's and Denver's pick. Either way, the pick figures to be in the lottery or perhaps even in the top 10. That's enough to get any conversation started.
Another team whose day or reckoning is arriving is the Bulls, who are fielding plenty of calls about Pau Gasol and Taj Gibson at the deadline, league sources said.
With Joakim Noah out for the year, Jimmy Butler out for about a month and the Bulls entering the sprint to the regular season finish line only two games above .500 (27-25), the team's deal-making timeline has been accelerated. However, Chicago remains more in listening mode than selling mode. Asked if anything was imminent with Gasol, a person familiar with the Bulls' plans said, "Absolutely not."
The Bulls have been adamant that they'll accept nothing less than a first-round pick and a rotation player for Gibson, who has one year at a bargain-basement $8.95 million left on his contract.
The dilemma for Chicago is whether to reboot now or wait and see how far they can go once Butler comes back and then address their issues in the summer. It's presumed that Gasol will opt out of the final year of his contract ($7.8 million) and score a bigger number on the market, with the cap soaring to $89 million this summer. If Chicago were to acquire a player for him who has money owed next season, it would eat into their potential cap room, which will be in the max range if the Bulls renounce all their free agents.
The Rockets continue to aggressively seek trade partners for Dwight Howard, who they are aware will opt out and seek a max deal this summer, when close to 20 teams will have max room, league sources say.
The problem for Houston is that you can't get max value for Howard in a scenario in which he may opt out and change teams after he's traded. There are two distinct price levels for Howard: the rental price, and the rent-to-buy price. Without any assurances that he'll re-sign post-trade, there's no market for Howard in which the Rockets would get anything close to what he is worth in a trade.
