Simply three days in the past, it did not seem to be the Los Angeles Clippers had been going to do a lot of something on the commerce deadline. They’d received 17 of their earlier 21 video games, the NBA’s finest document throughout that stretch, to completely flip round their season after a 6-21 begin. In the event that they had been going to make any strikes, they profiled as patrons as they climbed to ninth within the West with Kawhi Leonard enjoying at an MVP degree. “In our scenario, I do not see a lot motion,” coach Tyronn Lue had lately instructed reporters.

That quote is now hilarious. Earlier than Thursday’s deadline, the Clippers traded their second- and third-best gamers. The entrance workplace utterly reoriented the franchise, prioritizing the long run over the rest of this season. They had been the form of strikes you’d anticipate from essentially the most disappointing crew within the league, not the most well liked one. They had been additionally two of the very best trades that any crew made on the deadline.

I discover each a part of this unusual, as I favored seeing Los Angeles flip into the kind of crew I believed it might be coming into the season. From that vantage level, it’s kind of of a bummer to observe the group pivot away from what was working. There isn’t a method, although, that I can argue with what the Clippers did from a team-building perspective. They did not simply flip James Harden into an All-Star-caliber guard 10 years his junior; they satisfied the Cleveland Cavaliers to ship them a second-round choose for his or her bother. They usually did not simply flip Ivica Zubac into a number of picks in a cope with the Indiana Pacers; they turned him right into a pair of fine firsts, one in every of which is especially attention-grabbing.

Let’s begin with the Harden commerce. Until Garland has essentially the most persistent case of turf toe in historical past, the Clippers will look sensible for purchasing low on him. Simply final season, Garland had the very best yr of his profession, averaging 20.6 factors on 60% true taking pictures as an integral a part of the league’s prime offense. After two-plus years of Harden operating the present, will probably be jarring to see this crew with a lead guard who’s lively and harmful off the ball. 

Given issues about sturdiness — he is performed in solely 26 video games this season and has been out since mid-January, however instructed reporters in LA that he is “able to hoop” — and the defensive viability of a Garland-Donovan Mitchell backcourt, it is comprehensible that the Cavaliers, firmly in win-now mode (and convince-Mitchell-to-sign-an-extension mode) needed to swap him for Harden. For a Clippers crew that was historical and light-weight on draft capital, although, this was a no brainer. They sidestepped extension discussions with a star who turns 37 in August and changed him with a 26-year-old who might be a core participant going ahead.

I’m curious to see if the Clippers, who rank thirtieth in offensive tempo, velocity issues up with Garland. The most important query popping out of the deadline, although, is what is going to occur with the protected choose they obtained within the Zubac deal. The particulars are fascinating. In a throwback to the 2012 commerce that despatched Kyle Lowry from the Houston Rockets to the Toronto Raptors, the Pacers agreed to ship Los Angeles their choose on this yr’s loaded draft with double safety, so it stays in Indiana if it falls between No. 1 and No. 4 or if it is No. 10 onward.

This can be a hell of a threat for the Pacers. If the lottery lands them between No. 5 and No. 9, they will need to ship the draft choose that was alleged to be their reward for a “hole yr” to Los Angeles. And if would not, then the end result is not essentially dangerous for Los Angeles: It is going to instantly flip into to an unprotected 2031 first-round choose. (There are, clearly, a variety of outcomes. If Indiana wins the lottery and pairs Kansas star Darryn Peterson with Tyrese Haliburton, I might wager in opposition to them sending the Clippers an superior choose in 2031.) In the intervening time, the Pacers have the NBA’s third-worst document; if that holds, Los Angeles can have a 47.9% likelihood of getting the choose, per Tankathon.

Zubac, 28, is a superb participant and an unimaginable growth story. The Clippers stole him from the Los Angeles Lakers on the 2019 deadline, and since then he is improved as a rim protector, a post-up risk, a passer and a finisher. He earned a spot on the All-Defensive Second Workforce final yr, and he’ll feast as a roll man subsequent to Halliburton subsequent season. That mentioned, one might make the case that the aforementioned choose alone could be price giving him up. As well as, the Clippers bought Indiana’s unprotected (!) 2029 choose, plus wing Bennedict Mathurin and massive man Isaiah Jackson. (In addition they despatched wing Kobe Brown to the Pacers.)

Mathurin was a preferred Most Improved Participant candidate coming into the season, however, within the final yr of his rookie contract, he did not persuade the Pacers that they wanted to maintain him round. He has upped his 3-point fee, although, and is averaging 17.5 factors on 58.6% true taking pictures, each profession highs. The previous No. 6 choose continues to be simply 23 years previous and a gifted bucket-getter, and the Clippers will get to spend a while with him earlier than deciding how they wish to method his restricted free company. They did Indiana a favor by taking up Jackson’s contract, which does not expire till 2028, however he a minimum of offers them one other massive physique with Zubac strolling out the door.

Like all trades involving picks, younger gamers and harm issues, there are a whole lot of variables right here, and the protected Pacers choose is an unusually wild one. We do not want the good thing about hindsight, although, to know that, value-wise, the Clippers crushed this deadline. Till now, they had been on the finish of an period that started with the arrival of Leonard and Paul George in 2019, attempting to make the very best of the scenario with out sacrificing flexibility. Now they’ve began to construct one thing new.