The Clippers have traded Josh Smith to the Rockets, as first reported by Yahoo Sports.
Advertisement
The Clippers announced on Friday that they traded Smith to the Rockets for the draft rights of forward Maarty Leunen. The deal saves the Clippers a few bucks in salary cap fees and provides the Rockets … well, nobody is exactly sure what it does for them.
A source confirmed to ESPN that the Clippers will send cash to Houston to cover the balance of Smith’s salary.
Having Smith on the team in the second half of the regular season could’ve proven to be a bit of a drag and make other players that are supposed to be essential feel less important or pushed back.
Meanwhile, for the Clippers all the trade does is open up a roster spot, which they could potentially fill with players looking to buy out their contracts with their team. The trend of Smith not seeing the floor became increasingly peculiar when Blake Griffin suffered a quad injury on Christmas Day, and the assumed backup power forward only saw playing time in four of the 12 games Griffin’s missed. Their alternatives were limited because they had only the veteran’s minimum to offer free agents after using their taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Paul Pierce, and Doc Rivers planned to use Smith much the same way he played in Houston previous year. Smoove and Brewer’s long-range shooting was spotty, but when they caught fire at the same time, the Rockets were unbeatable – just asked the Clippers, who they victimized in last year’s Western Semifinals. When he went to the bench, their offensive rating skyrocketed to 113 – an alarming difference of more than 22 points per 100 possessions.
Advertisement
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey confirmed the move in a Twitter posting, saying, “Welcome back Josh Smith!”. If I was the head coach, I would be confused about what lineup I had because there are so many guys that’s done so many productive things in this league up to this point.
