The NBA’s trade deadline is less than a month away, and apparently, the Los Angeles Clippers plan on being pretty active. They’re most notably working on putting together a deal that will send DeAndre Jordan somewhere else, which has been rumored for much of the season. However, a report indicates that Los Angeles isn’t interested in having Jordan be their only player who tests the trade market.
According to Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders, the Clippers called up the Minnesota Timberwolves and asked about their interest in acquiring Blake Griffin. In exchange, Minnesota would part ways with Karl-Anthony Towns.
Unfortunately for Los Angeles, this didn’t go any farther than one phone call, partly because the Timberwolves unsurprisingly have zero interest in parting ways with their 22-year-old superstar.
Via Basketball Insiders:
The trade proposal didn’t advance past an exploratory call from the Clippers as Minnesota declined, league sources told Basketball Insiders. Minnesota views Towns, the former No. 1 overall pick of the 2015 draft, as a franchise-caliber player and a vital piece of the future who is not for sale at this time.
This would have been a massive move, but you cannot blame the Timberwolves for shooting this down immediately. Both are great players, but Towns is more than five years younger than Griffin and is way cheaper, at least until Minnesota gives him a contract extension. Add in that the Timberwolves are in fourth in the Western Conference and look like that they have a bright future, and it doesn’t make sense for them to get rid of Towns under basically any circumstance.
As for the Clippers, it’s very possible that they have zero plans on moving Griffin and just wanted to see if they could potentially get one of the best young players in the NBA. Or maybe they’re trying to completely embrace blowing everything up with the hopes of a comprehensive rebuild, who knows.
