Tag Archives: Clippers

NBA Update: Rounding up Big Trades

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By Carlos Lopez

As the NBA regular season comes to a close, with only a few games left before its conclusion, I’ll go over some of the ‘blockbuster’ trades that happened throughout this season.

Suns-Nets-Bucks-Pacers Trade (KD to the Suns)

Starting with one-half of what was arguably THE trade this season, Kevin Durant went to the Suns. The entire trade package was huge, and included:

Suns Receive:          

Kevin Durant, TJ Warren

Nets Receive:

Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Juan Pablo Vaulet, 2023 first-round pick (from Phoenix) , 2025 first-round pick (from Phoenix) , 2027 first-round pick (from Phoenix), 2028 first-round pick swap (from Phoenix), 2028 second-round pick (from Milwaukee), 2029 first-round pick (from Phoenix), 2029 second-round pick (from Milwaukee)

Bucks Receive:

Jae Crowder

Pacers Receive:

George Hill, Serge Ibaka, Jordan Nwora, three future second-round picks (from Milwaukee), cash considerations (from Brooklyn)

This trade (along with the Kyrie Irving trade) has shaken the NBA to its core. With the introduction of KD and Kyrie to the Western Conference, the playoffs now seem to have taken a twist.

Mavericks-Nets Trade (Kyrie to the Nets)

I mentioned this trade earlier when I discussed the KD trade, as they were both traded from Brooklyn. This trade wasn’t as impactful as the KD trade since this trade only involved the Mavericks and the Nets. The trade included:

Mavericks Receive:

Kyrie Irving, Markieff Morris

Nets Receive:

Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, 2027 second-round pick, 2029 first-round pick (unprotected), 2029 second-round pick

While this trade had no immediate effect on the league besides for the Mavs and Nets, I believe there will be some consequences (either positive or negative) later on in the playoffs.

Lakers-Timberwolves-Jazz Trade

And last but not least, I’ll be talking about the 3-team trade that most notably led to the departure of Russell Westbrook from the Lakers. It went as follows:

Lakers Receive:

D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt

Timberwolves Receive:

Mike Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, 2024 second-round pick (from Lakers), 2025 second-round pick (from Jazz), 2026 2nd round pick (from Jazz)

Jazz Receive:

Russell Westbrook, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Damian Jones 2027, 1st-round pick (from Lakers)

This trade seems to have helped the Lakers slightly since it added more depth to their roster. The elephant in the room, however, is Russell Westbrook. He had a brief stay in Utah as they eventually agreed to a buyout. Afterwards he signed with the Clippers, where he seemed to have settled rather nicely (good for him).

Clippers vs Lakers

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By Cencere Waller

The L.A. Clippers are being a little sloppy so far. They are 11-11 and are doing well but I think they have to pick up the pace. Erik Bledsoe, who had recently joined the team, is doing well. 

On Thursday night, November 18, the Clippers and the Memphis Grizzlies played a pretty close game but in the end the Grizzlies took care of business with the score of 120-108. Ja Morant and Paul George were going at it, with Paul George having 23 points and Ja Morant scoring 28.

On the other side of Staples Center, the Lakers have also had a messy year but they are not giving up and are pushing forward, so far they are 12-11 but are not doing that bad, despite losing LeBron James for a good portion of the season.

The Clippers and Lakers play each other tonight at 7:00pm at Staples Center (soon to be renamed Crypto.com Arena), with the Lakers as the home team.

Recaps:

In the craziest game of the season so far against the Pistons, LeBron James had an incident where he hit Isaiah Stewart, which caused him to leak blood from his top right eyebrow and almost caused a brawl. LeBron got a one game suspension and a fine of $284,004 out of his game check. As for Isaiah Stewart, he received a two-game suspension and will miss out on $45,201 in game checks for his role. LeBron James (the GOAT) has since tested positive for Covid and will miss out on several games (probably up to 10 days).

The Live TV shot of the beginning of the scuffle
Players separate Detroit Pistons center Isaiah Stewart from Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, not in frame, during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

The Clippers and the Kings played Wednesday, with the Clippers dropping a game with Paul George on the bench by a final score of 124-115.

NBA Round-Up:

In the West, the Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors sit atop tied for the #1 seed with records of 18-3. Phoenix has won an amazing 17 games in a row. The Eastern Conference finds the Brooklyn Nets in first place with a 15-6 record.

The team with the lowest record in the Western Conference right now are the Rockets who are just 5-16, while in the east the Detroit Pistons are 4-17. They are having a pretty tough year so far with a new rookie, Jalen Green, who came from the NBA G league and is now playing with the Rockets and doing pretty well.