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Los Angeles Clippers: Jerry West has performed magic yet again

By Jason Reed

LAS VEGAS, NV - JULY 06: Los Angeles Clippers executive board member Jerry West (L) and Clippers owner Steve Ballmer talk as they attend a 2018 NBA Summer League game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Phoenix Suns at the Thomas & Mack Center on July 6, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Suns defeated the Mavericks 92-85. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - JULY 06: Los Angeles Clippers executive board member Jerry West (L) and Clippers owner Steve Ballmer talk as they attend a 2018 NBA Summer League game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Phoenix Suns at the Thomas & Mack Center on July 6, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Suns defeated the Mavericks 92-85. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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The Los Angeles Clippers did not add any superstars or even make the team better at the NBA Trade Deadline but still were the concrete winners.

Every fan should have been immensely excited when the Los Angeles Clippers announced that NBA Hall of Famer, Jerry West, would be an executive board member on the team, starting in the 2017 season.

After all, West held the same role with the Golden State Warriors in the time that the franchise completely turned things around and created the seemingly unbeatable monster that we see today.

Like the Clippers, the Warriors really had no prestige or allure to their name. The franchise’s last championship was in 1975 and had just one playoff appearance from 1994 to 2011.

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West and the Los Angeles Clippers shocked the world when the team traded superstar Blake Griffin, who had just signed an extension and was called a “Clipper for life”, to the Detroit Pistons.

This was to make the team financially flexible and the Clippers got a draft pick that resulted in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a star in the making in Tobias Harris as the most notable pieces.

It took some time to appreciate how good that trade really was. There is no time needed to appreciate how great the Clippers did during the NBA Trade Deadline in 2019.

The first trade the Los Angeles Clippers made involved the piece they received from Griffin. Los Angeles shipped Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanovic and Mike Scott to the Philadelphia 76ers for Mike Muscala, Wilson Chandler, Landry Shamet, the 76ers’ protected 2020 first-round pick and the Miami Heat unprotected 2021 first-round pick.

Los Angeles also received two second-round picks as well.

The Clippers received a nice young guard in Shamet that will back up Shai Gilgeous Alexander wonderfull past this season and two expiring contracts that keep the team flexible with the cap.

The biggest part of the trade is those two picks, however. If Philly can re-sign Harris and Jimmy Butler this offseason then that 2020 pick is probably going to be, at best, 26th in the draft.

However, that Miami pick has the potential to be a top-five pick with the team’s established assets leaving prior to the 2020-2021 season, which will likely cause the franchise to undergo a rebuild.

All of that for 25 games of Harris, who was the Clippers’ best player but was not going to lead to much success. While the Clippers could have made the playoffs, there was no chance that the team could defeat the Golden State Warriors in a playoff series.

The second trade the team made flipped Mike Muscala to the Los Angeles Lakers for Ivica Zubac and Michael Beasley. The Lakers were attempting to open a roster spot and this did the trick while also giving the team better shooting to help space the floor in Muscala.

For the Clippers, they received a cheap young center that is starting caliber and gives the team long-term relief. Right now, the only center signed on past this season is Montrezl Harrell.

And while Zubac is a restricted free agent, the Clippers can match any offer sheet he gets and the chances of him getting over $5 million a year are slim.

So if you tally everything up the Los Angeles Clippers got Zubac, Gilgeous-Alexander, Shamet, two more first-round picks, two second-round picks and the opportunity to sign two superstars next summer (we are not counting the expiring contracts the team has, such as Avery Bradley or Wilson Chandler).

The Los Angeles Clippers turned from a team that had one B-level star in Griffin that was strapped for cash into a team with a young backcourt, a young center, a ton of picks to build that core or trade away and the chance to sign two stars.

Related Story. Lakers fans can live with the Zubac trade. light

Jerry West has done a beautiful job. You are not going to see the fruits of the labor right away, but when it is said and done, this is going to be a very good team.

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