The Los Angeles Clippers just traded away two of their veteran point guards for another veteran point guard. Patrick Beverley and Rajon Rondo are headed to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for familiar face in Eric Bledsoe.
On its surface, it's sort of puzzling for why the Clippers would do this deal. Beverley and Rondo aren't game-changers by any means, but they certainly made an impact on their squad.
Eric Bledsoe feels like a marginal upgrade, if even one at all from Beverley. They bring a lot of the same strengths to the table, but Beverley's three-point accuracy fit right into the Clippers' trigger-happy offense. Bledsoe meanwhile is a below-average three-point shooter and has had a horrible track record in the postseason thus far.
Eric Bledsoe is a career 25% shooter from deep in the playoffs.
The Clippers did not get better with this move at all.
ā Joey Linn (@joeylinn_) August 16, 2021
But the thing is, the Clippers might not even make the postseason given the extent of Kawhi Leonard's ACL injury. That's why the true heart of the deal for LA lies in its salary cap ramifications.
The deal saves the Clippers about $30 million in luxury tax penalties and also scores them a traded player exception worth over $8 million that they can use to absorb another contract down the line.
Cap ramifications for LAC/MEM:
LAC
šEric Bledsoe: $18.1M and $19.4M ($3.9M GTY)
š°LAC will see their tax bill drop from $125M to $95M (savings of $30M)
š°$8.3M TE for LACMEM
šPatrick Beverley: $14.3M
šRajon Rondo: $7.5M ($750K likely bonus)
šDaniel Oturu: $1.5Mā Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) August 16, 2021
The Clippers swung a savvy move that could help them down the line. And who knows, maybe Eric Bledsoe's return to Los Angeles sparks a career renaissance? After all, we've just seen it happen with Reggie Jackson and Nicolas Batum.
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