Report: Clippers have explored market for Crawford to facilitate other deals
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As it turns out, a terrific head coach can make for a sub-optimal front office executive, especially when juggling both jobs at the same time.
That's the lesson Doc Rivers and the Los Angeles Clippers are learning this season, with Rivers, a terrific coach, making some poor roster and cap management decisions that have the organization scrambling ahead of Thursday's trade deadline. Tight to the luxury tax apron they activated with short-sighted offseason deals, the Clippers have few means to improve their roster for a playoff run.
They're so desperate for help on the wing that they've even explored the trade market for two-time Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford, according to a report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
While moving their best reserve and one of their most deadly scorers would be a massive shake-up, the Clippers are interested to see if Crawford could net them a first-round pick they could then use in a subsequent deal. Their targets in such a deal would be Denver Nuggets wings Arron Afflalo and Wilson Chandler, players they would reportedly need that extra first to land, considering they can't trade their own first until at least 2019.
Crawford is averaging 16 points in 26.9 minutes and has long been one of the league's most deadly microwave men, capable of handling both guard spots and shouldering a scoring load off the bench. He makes a reasonable $5.5 million this season and only $1.5 million of his $5.7-million salary for next season is guaranteed, making him an attractive piece.
If the Clippers can't get in the mix for the Nuggets' wings, they're also said to have interest in Gerald Green of the Phoenix Suns, who is said to be on the market. It's unclear what assets the Clippers could surrender that Phoenix would want, and that paucity of bargaining chips has LA desperate enough that they even kicked the tires on Lance Stephenson, watching the Charlotte Hornets guard for two games before moving on.
Had the Clippers not activated the tax apron by using their mid-level exception on Spencer Hawes and their bi-annual exception on the since-waived Jordan Farmar, or dealt the useful Jared Dudley for cheaper players they could use the stretch provision on, or moved a handful of assets to clear room for Austin Rivers, and so on, they would have a lot more flexibility right now. But they did, and so they don't, and so it seems unlikely they'll make any meaningful moves by Thursday.