The first huge free agency related bomb of the 2017 NBA off-season has already been dropped and it is June 28.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski in what may be his final official “Woj Bomb” as a member of The Vertical (he moves to ESPN on July 1), the Rockets have reportedly agreed to a trade with the Los Angeles Clippers where they will receive star point guard Chris Paul in exchange for Patrick Beverly, Lou Williams, Sam Dekker and a 2018 1st Round Pick.
The Rockets are pairing Chris Paul with James Harden. @WojVerticalNBA report. https://t.co/hmIWcnSSVq pic.twitter.com/w9wYGjCTu4
— The Vertical (@TheVertical) June 28, 2017
Paul will opt into the final year and $24.2 million of his current contract to make the trade work and allow the Clippers to acquire assets.
This is massive news and means that Lob City is officially over in Los Angeles, but a new legitimate contender may have been created in Houston.
Chris Paul met with the Clippers brass Monday night and decided that Houston would give him the best chance to win next season, so he agreed to opt into his current contract and requested a trade to Houston to team up with James Harden.
In order to have been able to acquire Paul in free agency, the Rockets would have had to basically trade Ryan Anderson and Patrick Beverly and get almost no salary back, which would have been a tough task with Anderson’s $20 million salary.
Chris Paul is essentially giving up $7 million in potential salary next season for the opportunity to win, as the Rockets will have his Bird Rights and will be able to go over the cap to re-sign him in 2018.
Paul and Harden are both very ball dominant players and the transition that worked so well to move James Harden to point guard in Mike D’Antoni’s system last season may already be over for good. Paul who is 32 has never played in a system and style of play as fast as Mike D’Antoni’s. The fit with him and Harden will be an adjustment, as they are both high I.Q. players and superstars who will have to find a way to co-exist in order to become a contender.
There are plenty of ramifications for this deal around the NBA. For starters, the Celtics, Heat and Nuggets chances to land Blake Griffin have skyrocketed (no pun intended) now that trading Paul signals that the Clippers are likely to blow it up and start over. That also means that DeAndre Jordan could be on the trading block for expiring contracts, young players or picks as the Clippers potentially load up on extreme cap space for what could be a free agency bonanza in 2018.
I know reports are out that LeBron would never join the Clippers, but that could change if they have the cap space to be able to sign him, Paul George and another high-caliber player potentially and form yet another big three.
The big losers in this deal are clearly the San Antonio Spurs, who appeared to be attempting to position themselves to land Paul in free agency. They may now opt to keep Danny Green and attempt to bring back former Spur George Hill to keep them in contention.
It will be interesting to see what the Rockets starting lineup will look like next season, you can be assured it will include Paul, Harden, Trevor Ariza and Clint Capela. We’ll see if the Rockets still move Ryan Anderson or Eric Gordon for players that may fit better or give the Rockets more cap flexibility.
