Grades: Clippers dump Dudley deal
The deal
Clippers get: Guard Carlos Delfino, center Miroslav Raduljica, their own 2015 second-round pick
Bucks get: Forward Jared Dudley, 2017 protected first-round pick
Los Angeles Clippers: D
The Clippers have spent the entire summer battling the luxury-tax apron. Because they used the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Spencer Hawes as a free agent this summer, they are hard-capped and cannot spend more than $80.8 million, no matter how much new owner Steve Ballmer might like to. That limited them to signing just one more player for the veteran's minimum after re-signing Glen Davis.
On the surface, this trade doesn't seem to help, since Delfino and Raduljica actually make more combined this season ($4.75 million) than Dudley ($4.25 million). However, there's a key difference between their contracts and Dudley's: Both were signed under the current NBA collective bargaining agreement, which makes them eligible to be "stretched" if waived. And that's precisely what Sam Amick of USA Today reports will happen with Delfino, who missed all of last season with a foot injury and will likely miss time again this season.
Stretching Delfino's $3.25 million salary over the next three years (instead of paying it all at once this year) would save the Clippers nearly $2 million this season, giving them the opportunity to sign three additional players to fill out the roster. Doing so would also allow them to fill out their training camp; one problem the Clippers face is whether they could invite players on non-guaranteed contracts to camp because of an obscure clause in the CBA (Exhibit 9) that requires a team to have 14 players on the roster before non-guaranteed contracts don't count against the cap.
So there's a rationale for this trade. Just not one that justifies giving up a valuable first-round pick.
Sure, the Clippers will likely select at the end of the first round in 2017, but the team may not be as competitive in three years as it is now. (Although I haven't seen anything on the protection, presumably the Clippers only keep the pick if it lands in the lottery.) More importantly, since the Clippers already dealt their 2015 first-round pick to the Boston Celtics for Doc Rivers, they can no longer trade any first-rounder before 2019 because of the Stepien Rule, which prevents a team from trading draft picks in consecutive years.
This seems to be a case where Rivers the executive has been overruled by Rivers the coach, as the latter now gets a chance to fill out his roster with more of the veterans he likes. That kind of short-term thinking is the danger in giving a coach full power to run an organization. Besides the missing pick, the Clippers will also be carrying an extra million dollars on their cap the next two summers if they stretch Delfino, which could prevent them from using the full mid-level exception again next year.
Perhaps, because of the camp situation, the Clippers had no choice but to make a move. If so, this was a costly solution.
Milwaukee Bucks: A-
Delfino and Raduljica are the second and third players from last year's disastrous Bucks crop of free agents to be traded. (In Delfino's case, Milwaukee was unlucky. Nobody realized that his foot injury would be so serious.) Consider this trade a nice save.
At worst, the Bucks have taken on an extra $4.25 million in salary for 2015-16 in exchange for a first-round pick, a good deal given the premium teams around the league are placing on free agents.
At best, it's not inconceivable that Dudley becomes a trade chip for Milwaukee. Remember, we're barely a year removed from Dudley being considered a good asset in the trade that sent Eric Bledsoe to the Phoenix Suns. Dudley's one season with the Clippers was a disaster. He was out of shape, a source of frustration to the coaching staff and unable to keep up defensively on the wing. But he's only 29. If Dudley commits himself to conditioning, a return to the useful 3-and-D specialist he was in Phoenix is a possibility.
