Nets, Lakers, Clippers: Time to blow it up?
By Jim James
Hello all, and welcome back to the blog. In the ESPN pre-season power ranking, the Brooklyn Nets, in their first full season of the “Big 3” of James Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant, were ranked 1st, while the Lakers, in the 3rd season of Anthony Davis and Lebron James’ partnership, and with the fresh addition of Russell Westbrook, were predicted to have a comeback season and were 3rd in the Power Rankings. The Clippers, even though Kawhi Leonard was predicted to miss most of the season with an ACL Tear, was still predicted to have an alright season led by Paul George, and in 12th. However, fast forward to today, and with Paul George out for most of the rest of the season, Kevin Durant out, Kyrie Irving missing half of games, a half-interested James Harden, and a combustion of the Lakers team, the 3 are a combined 82-83 in record, all 3 are in the play in positions, but they take up 2, 3, and 5 on the salary cap ranking, a combined 170 million over the salary cap, and they only have a combined 6 not traded first round picks, all of which come at the 2026 draft or later. What should these teams do?
LA Clippers: Wait it out
Despite still being at a losing record, the Clippers have just been more unlucky than anything. Kawhi’s injury in the playoffs, Paul George’s injury. When they come back, likely in 2022-23, I would suggest just trying to see how they do with Paul George, Kawhi, Norman Powell, Marcus Morris Sr., and the rest of the team. If they do poor with them, they should see if they can trade for a 3rd star.
Another thing they could do is free up a lot of cap and see if they can persuade a big name 2022 Free Agent to join the squad. However, this may not be the best thing they could do looking at the stories of the next two teams.
LA Lakers: Make a big move
This is the most alarming scenario of the three. Mostly because they have a losing record even though they’ve had all their stars for most of the season. They traded away most of their best supporting cast pieces in the Westbrook deal, and he’s turned out to be a big fat flop. Don’t forget the countless free agency fails, the three bloated contracts, and the veterans in their late 30s signed to sell shirts. If this team were in their prime, with prime Melo, Dwight Howard combined with Heat Lebron, Pels AD, MVP Russ, Clippers De’Andre Jordan, with Prime Players like Malik Monk, Kent Bazemore, Avery Bradley, Trevor Ariza, Wayne Ellington, Darren Collison among others being great role players to go along with their big 6. However, that’s not how it is. With the trade deadline tomorrow, the Lakers have the perfect opportunity to mix up the team to hopefully finesse some teams to get some better players.
Brooklyn Nets: Trade James Harden and/or Kyrie Irving
Even though a trade for the latter isn’t likely, this team has disaster written all over it, and currently it’s living up to that prophecy. They are currently on the 2nd longest losing streak of a team that started over .500, and have dropped from East contention with the Bucks and Bulls to play-in contention with the Celtics and Raptors. Granted, Kevin Durant is injured, but Kyrie’s stubborness is costing him 41 games this season, and James Harden looks like he doesn’t even want to be there anymore, which is true in some respects.
Again, with the trade deadline coming up, they have a golden chance to turn around their season, perhaps trade for a disgruntled superstar, and turn around their season. They could, I believe, get Damian Lillard in a trade. However, it would be tricky as he is the man Portland’s shaping their rebuild around. Either way, they should figure something out.
Anyway, that’s all folks. I hope you liked my report on these teams. I’m Jim James, and until next time.