Danny Ainge has built a reputation for ruining many of the teams he trades with. That’s why Draymond Green stopped Golden State from trying to trade for Lauri Markkanen. Ainge did it again last season, but ironically he didn’t try to oust them. While the Utah Jazz were just trying to get rid of an expendable player, they accidentally ended the Clippers’ playoff era once and for all.
The Jazz agreed to send John Collins to the Clippers in a deal that didn’t yield much — just Kyle Anderson, Kevin Love and a second-round pick — so it’s not like Utah was out to win anything. They simply wanted to cut ties with Collins to free up more time for some of their younger players.
If anything, this seemed like a steal for the Clippers after the season Collins had, and he wasn’t terrible for the Clippers. 12 points and 4.8 rebounds while shooting almost 51% from the field is a step back, but LA isn’t as reliant on him as the Jazz and Atlanta Hawks used to be.
So why did this deal look so bad for the Clippers? Well, besides the fact that they are now 5-16, which could be a problem for the Jazz, they gave up Norm Powell in the deal, who not only was coming off a groundbreaking All-Star campaign last year, but has only continued his stellar play in South Beach.
Powell’s play was extremely helpful to the Clippers last year when Kawhi Leonard was out due to his annual injury. They traded him and then signed Bradley Beal, believing he could replace Powell’s production while Collins could bolster their frontcourt.
Giant yak.
And it wouldn’t have happened without the Jazz’s involvement.
The cruel irony of the consequences of this trade
The Jazz made this trade believing they would be worse off, while the Clippers believed they would be better. Now that the season is about a quarter over, the Clippers are on track to be even worse than the Jazz when it’s all said and done.
That’s not necessarily something Utah would have wanted, but that’s how things could play out, as it’s hard to see how LA can salvage this situation. They can hope Kawhi gets healthy, but they’ve been doing that since the early 2020s and he hasn’t been able to save them.
It’s about showing. As bad as things have been for the Jazz in recent years, their situation could be much worse. Despite everything that has gone wrong, they are in no danger of giving the Thunder, the reigning NBA champions, the No. 1 pick. They could maybe give them the No. 9 pick, and while that’s not preferred, Utah still has a promising future.
The same can’t be said for the Clippers.
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