According to media reports, the Los Angeles Clippers have traded Blake Griffin for the Detroit pistons. In return, Detroit will send Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, Boban Marjanovic and a first and second round pick to the City of Angels. The Clippers ship Brice Johnson and Willie Reed to Motor City with Griffin.
This is reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. According to his sources, the Clippers are probably not finished yet and also listen to offers for Lou Williams and DeAndre Jordan. The team from California wants to focus more on developing young players and generating picks, but also play for the playoffs.
The first round pick of 2018 is to be protected from 1 to 4 in 2018 until 2020, with no restrictions on the right to choose in 2021.
Griffin didn’t sign a new five-year contract for $171 million with the Clippers until the summer, after which he said that he dreamed of being a clipper forever.
In 33 games this season the Power Forward scored 22.6 points, 7.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game. With a balance of 25-24, the Clippers are currently in ninth place at the Western Conference.
The opponent in the east are the pistons, who are three victories behind the Philadelphia 76ers (8th place). There, Tobias Harris played the best season of his career with 18.1 points on average. His contract runs until 2019, earning him $30.8 million. Marjanovic must also be paid until 2019 (14 million).
Avery Bradley becomes a Free Agent in the summer. The defensive specialist was traded before the current season when Marcus Morris went to Boston. The Shooting Guard earns around $8.8 million this season.