The Clippers reached a deal to trade away one of their stars today, but remain confident about re-signing another. According to Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter link), the Clips believe today’s Chris Paul trade agreement clears the way for the club to re-sign Blake Griffin.
[RELATED: Clippers to trade Chris Paul to Rockets]
While the idea of re-signing Griffin after losing Paul may seem counter-intuitive, there are some reasons why it makes sense to bring back one without the other. Paul and Griffin were never believed to be the best of friends, with multiple reports over the years suggesting there was some tension between the two players.
Additionally, had the Clippers re-signed both Paul and Griffin to maximum salary contracts, the club would have gone well into luxury tax territory. Without Paul’s max salary to consider, the Clips’ books will be a little easier to manage, even with a lucrative new deal for Griffin on the cap.
Along the same lines, the Clippers wouldn’t necessarily be able to create a significant chunk of cap room by letting Griffin walk, since they already have upwards of $74MM in guaranteed salaries on their 2017/18 cap after taking into account the additions of Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, and Sam Dekker. Re-signing Griffin and staying over the cap would allow the team to keep the trade exception it figures to acquire in the CP3 deal.
Multiple teams, including the Celtics, Heat, and Thunder, are expected to pursue Griffin in free agency, so a return to Los Angeles is hardly a sure thing for the former No. 1 overall pick. Nonetheless, if the Clippers are willing to offer five years, there’s no reason they shouldn’t be the favorite. As our maximum salary projections show, the Clips could offer a five-year deal worth an estimated $172MM+, while any other team could offer up to about $127.7MM over four years.
Meanwhile, in other Clippers news, the team has reached an agreement with forward Paul Pierce to extend the guarantee date on his salary for the 2017/18 season, per Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Pierce, who remains under contract for one more year despite his plans to retire, currently has approximately $1MM of his $3.68MM salary guaranteed. The full amount was set to become guaranteed after June 30, but pushing back that deadline could allow L.A. to use Pierce’s contract in a trade once the new league year begins.
No way Blake comes back
He said he wanted to go somewhere that will be his team. Now it is his team
They played way better when the offense ran through Blake 2 years ago while CP3 was out. Get Wade once he gets bought out.
Blake definitely comes back or gets traded for more assets. Clips have even more leverage for blake because he can be persuaded to stay with 200 million.
I remember when a couple of years ago the “fans” of this team came out of nowhere. Looks like they’re about to go back into their caves for another decade or two with nothing to show for it
I mean lots of non-Lakers fans prefer the Clippers over the Lakers as outside observers.
I always root for the Clips when my team is not involved (Celtics).
now doc can start his son full time Hahahaha
The Clips struggled to go deep into the playoffs with the team they have. Now that they don’t have Paul and probably Reddick, who can they acquire to not just replace those two players but to make them better than what they were last season?
If there isn’t a way to surround Griffin with equal or better talent than Paul or Reddick then seek a Griffin sign-and-trade for an asset you can build around for the future.
Why sign and trade opposed to let him walk? If they let both Paul and Griffin walk then they will still be very close to the cap or above the cap and won’t be able to sign an outside FA. Doing a sign and trade for both Paul and Griffin allows the Clips to collect assets and, if I’m correct, their bird rights so they can keep those assets long term if desired, irrelevant of the cap situation.
Should be interesting to see what happens with Blake Griffin. If the Clippers can keep him, they need to find a way to move Jamal Crawford, and they need help defensively on the wing, still. But I could also see him leaving. As a Heat fan, I hope it’s not to Miami….but as of now, they theoretically can play Beverly, Rivers, Dekker, Blake, DeAndre. Lou Williams off the bench. Not terrible, as a start. But they’re going to have to figure that stuff I mentioned out
If the Clippers pulled off essentially getting Beverley, Lou Williams, Dekker, Harrell, Liggins, and the 2018 1st rounder for the 1 year of CP3, that’s significant for them in filling needs, and leaves Houston still needing a defensive wing, and help at the 4/backup big b/c of the loss of versatility in losing Harrell
Why would they resign, they should rebuild
He probably won’t want to come back, maybe if they kept Paul they could have brought him back but I doubt he has any interest in returning now. It sure looks like it will be Jordan’s show in LA for the Clippers this year. I see Griffin ending up on the T-Wolves who are now just missing a true PF, with or without Rubio a PF is the only thing the Wolves are missing to become true contenders
No way Blake is going to the Pheonix Suns
Seems like a great trade for both teams when you really think about it. At first I was shocked. I think they will eventually bring back Blake but I don’t think it’ll be easy, he may want to go to either the Celtics or the Thunder. Thunder has always made most sense to me because that’s where he is from but I think he ends up staying.
You shut up
Clips should let griffin go. He is not worth the $. Always hurt, hard to get along with, not a clutch shooter, beat up another Clippers employee…not a great defender. Send him to okc. When doc smells “rebuild ” he leaves…takes his son…problem solved.
Blake bout to go to the Celtics