When the Cavaliers and Jazz make their Jordan Clarkson/Dante Exum swap official, it will end one of the longest trade droughts in NBA history. The Rockets and Thunder formally finalized their Chris Paul/Russell Westbrook deal on July 16, so it has been 161 days since a trade has been completed.
Several weeks ago, Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype noted that the league was already in the midst of its longest trade drought since 1968. That year, there was a 159-day gap between trades, so this year’s drought has now exceeded that one. However, it should finally come to an end today.
Here are a few notes and items worth passing along on the NBA’s first trade in more than five months:
- Clarkson’s Cavaliers teammates learned about the trade just before taking the court for Monday night’s game, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “I fell to the ground,” Kevin Love said of finding out about the deal. “This one hurts for me. That is my guy. We just hit it off when he got here a few years ago. He became a really close friend of mine. It’s really tough.”
- Talks between the Cavaliers and the Jazz began at last week’s G League Showcase, according to Fedor, who hears from sources that Cleveland moved on the deal now because the club wasn’t confident in its ability to land a first-round pick for Clarkson later in the winter.
- While Clarkson is on an expiring contract, the Jazz don’t view him as a rental, tweets Tony Jones of The Athletic. Utah will have Clarkson’s Bird rights at season’s end.
- In his full report on Utah’s Monday roster moves, Jones notes that the team has been unhappy with its bench play, prompting a roster shakeup that also included waiving Jeff Green and signing Rayjon Tucker. Jones also cites sources who say that the Jazz‘s interest in Clarkson dates back to his draft year in 2014 and that the club’s front office felt as if Exum needed a change of scenery.
- Keith Smith of RealGM (Twitter link), Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights (Twitter link), and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski all note that the Cavaliers‘ projected 2020 cap room will be impacted by this trade. Smith and Siegel have the projected figure in the $25-26MM range, while Woj suggests Cleveland will have $28MM+ to work with.
- In his breakdown of the trade, Siegel notes that if Exum can provide the Cavaliers with any semblance of on-court value, the deal will be a big win for the franchise.
The Siegel analysis says clarkson is selfish ball hog…takes bad shots…plays no defense. None of that fits coach B….get him out of here! He was probably one of the punks making anonymous comments about the new coach.
Siegal did call Clarkson a “ticking time bomb” but said his start to this year saw him reversing his bad trends offensively. Defensively, he has Gobert between him and the rim.
I agree they’re not good shots Clarkson takes, but they frequently hit, which gives the impression of a rally underway– or, hopefully, beginning.
Maybe Clarkson’s off-n-on wild style started in pre-Bron LA when the team was mostly young, but it has hurt his reputation. His D does that too.
Kevin Love fell to the ground when he heard the news…..probably out for a month.
As for Utah, HR noted earlier that Utah has been coaching a greater reliance on the shotblocking 5 since this summer– perimeter players using Gobert rather than lateral movement. Then they traded for Conley; signed Mudiaye, Jeff Green & Ed Davis, fast for their positions; and now Clarkson & Tucker. They traded away slower Favors, Crowder, Korver & Neto. BojanB from Indy was to be 4ish but has been a 3 as they needed the flexible Ingles at the 2. Basically Utah has gone without a traditional 4 even as they lean more on Gobert. They will raise ONeal. Clarkson fits their plans.
Phew! Hoops Rumors breathes a sigh of relief at trades resuming…
No one else wanted to get ripped off so badly like OKC was.