New York Knicks v Toronto Raptors
The team down the hall at Crypto.com Arena made their first move, and got better.
However, the Clippers may be under more pressure at the trade deadline than any team in the league: they went all-in four years ago on the Kawhi Leonard and Paul George pairing and the results have been disappointing (one conference finals in 2021). This season, 25-24 has got them sitting sixth in a flat Western Conference, but watch them play — even with Leonard finding his form again of late — and nobody is thinking contender.
The Clippers’ primary goal at the trade deadline is help at the point guard spot and their targeting of the Jazz’s Mike Conley is well-chronicled. They are eyeing a few other targets according to Kevin O’Conner at The Ringer.
But other teams will pursue Conley too, meaning that the Jazz will likely hold out for the best possible offer until closer to the deadline. So L.A. must scour the rest of the league. League sources say the Clippers are also interested in Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet.
Lowry and VanVleet won a ring with Leonard in Toronto, but Lowry’s dropoff in play this season in Miami should put him lower on the list of Clippers’ targets.
VanVleet makes a lot more sense at age 28, and after a slow start to the season he found his legs in January — 20.8 points and seven assists a game, with a league-average true shooting percentage — and now falls in the “what is Toronto going to do?” category. The Raptors could not reach an extension with VanVleet before the season and both sides agreed to shelve extension talks until after the season, but he reportedly turned down a four-year, $114 million offer looking for something closer to Tyler Herro‘s $130 million. Whatever that contract number ends up being, any team that trades for VanVleet has to be willing to re-sign him this summer. The Suns (with new ownership) reportedly are interested, as are the Clippers (who have Steve Ballmer’s money to spend). The question remains, are the Raptors even open to a trade?
Story continues
The Clippers are rejecting calls from teams interested in a Terrence Mann…
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