For all of the reports and rumors that do come out about proposed trade discussions between teams, that is just the tip of the iceberg of what really happens that never gets out.
One blockbuster offer that has come to the surface over the past few days was the Clippers apparent offer of Blake Griffin to the Timberwolves for Karl-Anthony Towns.
Sources: The Los Angeles Clippers proposed a blockbuster deal to the Minnesota Timberwolves involving forward Blake Griffin and center Karl-Anthony Towns. Full story coming on @BBallInsiders.
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) January 13, 2018
This is juicy because it involves two stars and rumors of this type of trades, star for star, don’t happen too often, but that is where the intrigue ends.
Towns is far younger (22 to Griffin’s 28), far more durable at this point in his career and far more valuable than Blake Griffin at this stage in their careers.
This had to be the sort of discussion where the T’Wolves picked up the phone, heard the offer, asked the Clippers to repeat it and put it on speakerphone and then had the entire front office burst into laughter before saying no thank you and hanging up.
The other problem with this rumor is the large difference in salary between the two players at the moment. Griffin makes $29.5 million this season, while Anthony-Towns makes $6.4 million as part of his rookie deal.
The T’Wolves would also have to deal Gorgui Gieng ($15.7 million, yikes) and Cole Aldrich ($7.3 million, again, yikes) in order to have the salaries match up.
The only real thing to take out of this report in my opinion is that the Clippers already regret signing Griffin to a five-year, $171 million extension this off-season, at least on some level.
That is not how you would think you would feel about “Clipper Royalty” as they referred to Griffin this summer…
