The Los Angeles Clippers were hit with harsh punishment by the NBA following the league's investigation into Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers organization. LA was stripped of control of their first-round picks from 2029-2033, leaving them in a horrific position to build for the future.
This has led many people around the league to speculate the Clippers would be willing to part with win-now talent and take on bad contracts in order to recoup draft capital. For the Los Angeles Lakers, this presents an incredible opportunity to finesse their little brother Clippers.
With there always being talk of the Lakers looking to find ways to escape Jarred Vanderbilt’s contract, the Clippers' desperation for draft capital offers a path to a deal between the two LA teams. The Lakers have three tradeable second-round picks and could attach one to Vanderbilt, which could pique the interest of a desperate Clippers team.
The Clippers offer a path off Jarred Vanderbilt's contract
Vanderbilt’s contract hasn't aged well for the Lakers. Over the past several years, he’s dealt with injuries that limited how much action he’s seen.
When Vando first signed, there was a ton of hype; he looked like the versatile, switchable defender LA had been lacking at forward. But in the two seasons before last, injuries kept him out of a ton of games.
Although Vanderbilt played 65 games last season, he looked a little slower and less mobile than the player the Lakers originally paid him to be. With one standard year left on his deal before a player option he is expected to pick up for $13-plus million next offseason, being able to dump him off on the Clippers this season is a real option.
The Lakers could target someone like Brook Lopez, who is on a one-year deal in a trade that featured Vanderbilt plus one of those tradeable second-round picks I previously mentioned.
For the Clippers, any type of draft capital is going to help. Adding a second-round pick, with the only cost being to stomach two years of Vanderbilt, would be worth it.
The idea with this deal is to create more long-term flexibility, but that’s not the only plus that can come from dealing Vanderbilt to the Clippers. Lopez is far from the player he was with the Nets or even the player he was the first time around with the Lakers and Bucks. At 38 years old he’s in the final stages of his career.
However, that doesn’t mean he couldn’t bring on-court value to LA. He’s still a seven-footer who shot 36.0 percent from deep last season and could split reps with Kevon Looney as a backup to Walker Kessler.
Having a shooting big who can also provide size and still protect the rim at a decent rate could be a fun upside to swing on in a deal mostly focused on clearing up long-term salary. If the Lakers feel like the time has finally come to cut ties with Vanderbilt, they’ve never had a better time to do it, thanks to the Clippers' soul-crushing penalties.
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