Los Angeles Lakers: How are recent former players doing?

4. Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr

At midseason last year, Magic shocked nearly everyone when he traded two major contributors to Cleveland.
Clarkson had been selected with the 46th pick of the 2014 draft. He was a full-time starter his second season, and was the sixth man his third, averaging 14.5 points and 3.3 assists in roughly half the game.

In similar minutes this year for the Cavs, Jordan is scoring 16.2 PPG and two APG with very similar shooting stats, other than increasing his made FTs to 86 percent. He is earning $12.5 million this year and will make $13.4 next season.

Nance, who had been picked 27th in 2015, was scoring 8.6 points on 60 percent shooting and garnering 6.8 rebounds per game for the Lakers before he was traded.

This year for Cleveland, his respective numbers are 7.2, 48.8 percent and 6.6. The drop in his shooting percentage is mostly due to the increased amount of his 3-point attempts, which he is shooting at a decent 35 percent clip.

Nance is earning just $2.3 million this year, but recently signed a multi-year extension with the Cavs for a substantially higher salary.

The motivation for this trade was complicated. The Lakers got a first-round pick which they used to take Mo Wagner, who has only recently recovered from an off-season injury. They also received the expiring contracts of Isaiah Thomas and Channing Frye, neither of whom they re-signed.

So, the trade was essentially Clarkson and Nance for Wagner and salary cap room. The transaction can’t be fairly evaluated until we see just how that cap space is used.