The Heat, Jazz, And Clippers Officially Kick Off The NBA's New League Year With A Surprising 3 Team Trade

Sunday marked the start of the new league year in the NBA, which is why we finally saw all the official team accounts tweet out their trade/signing graphics for moves that were made way back at the start of free agency on June 30th. What we didn't get was a whole lot of new movement, despite the future of a few big-name players still being up in the air.

Thankfully, our week is off with a bang with a random 3 team trade that in a way, sort of benefits everyone? The very rare win-win-win trade where you get the sense that all sides are walking away happy

Now you might be saying to yourself

"Why should I give a shit about any of these players? Are they even good?"

And while I can certainly understand why someone might think that, given there aren't superstar players involved, let me start off by saying yes, they are good.

So while this trade isn't exactly going to send shockwaves throughout the league or anything like that, it doesn't mean this wasn't a solid transaction for everyone involved. Each team got something they needed while not having to give up all that much, and in my opinion, this is only the first step for some of the teams that took part in this trade. Let's go through each

Miami Heat

In a stunning twist of events, Pat Riley isn't asleep at the wheel! He finally executed a trade! Big moment for him and that fanbase for sure. So why did they do it? Well, for starters, the price. My guess is they are not losing sleep over Kevin Love, Kyle Anderson and a 2nd round pick. The fact that they were able to bring in an offensive talent that they very much needed in Norm Powell, while also not having to unload a 1st round pick? That's a win.

Powell heads to the Heat on an expiring deal, so if it doesn't work out, no harm no foul. He's entering his age 32 season, so perhaps the Clippers weren't interested in paying him into his mid 30s so they flipped him for a positional need (PF).

For a MIA team that was 21st in offense last year and 24th in points per game, injecting Norm Powell into that offense can only help. You could easily make the case that he got boned out of an All Star nod this past season, and with Duncan Robinson gone, the Heat do need additional shooting. Don't ask a Herro/Powell backcourt to play a lick of competent defense, but that's what Bam and Coach Spo's zone is for.

At the end of the day, the skillset (offense, shooting) outweighs the negatives (defense), especially when you factor in the cost. It makes sense as to why the Heat did this.

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Los Angeles Clippers

My first thought when I saw his Shams tweet was that the two sides must not have been able to reach an extension, and that they also must know that one or both of CP3/Bradley Beal are on the horizon. You have to think LAC now looks like a much more appealing desitination for Beal to choose once he gets bought out, so if you make that assumption then turning Powell into effectively Beal/Collins isn't a terrible low risk way to round out your roster.

In terms of the player the Clippers are getting in Collins, he's an interesting player. In some ways, he's the kind of player where the "idea" of him is sometimes better than what you get in reality. He, too, is on an expiring deal, and this tells you that an extension wasn't happening in UTA either, so why not flip him? 

He brings a pretty legit lob threat to pair next to James Harden, which certainly isn't the worst thing in the world to add, given how much attention Harden is able to command once he puts the ball on the floor. Collins averaged 1.10 points per possession as a roll man in P&R which isn't terrible, and now he gets paired with an elite passer so I would expect that number to get even better.

The question is whether or not you believe in his 3pt shooting. The spacing the Clippers are losing in this deal is significant, which is where the Bradley Beal piece has to be mentioned. Collins himself shot 39% and 37% these last two seasons for the Jazz on around 3.5 3PA a game, which is more than serviceable. It also allows Kawhi to play more at the 3 and Derrick Jones Jr to slide into a big off the bench which is probably the best role for him, and it's a chance for the Clippers to get a look at a 27 year old big for a year before his contract is up. 

It's the same sort of discussion that the Heat are having with their piece of this trade. It didn't cost a lot to bring in the player so if it works great, but if not, you can always flip at the deadline or let him walk for the cap relief.

Utah Jazz

Seeing Danny Ainge involved in a 3 team trade wasn't surprising, and at the end of the day, the Jazz get back a 2nd round pick for their troubles. I can't imagine Kevin Love sticks around, the Jazz have no real need for Kyle Anderson, so to me this was more them getting an asset back for being the 3rd team needed in order to make this trade happen.

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As a reminder, 2nd round picks in this new CBA world aren't really about the "player" that you could take with that pick. Now, 2nd round picks are more about being a vehicle to be able to facilitate "real" moves for "real" rotation players. The Jazz basically getting that for free here is a no brainer decision. They clearly weren't keeping Collins, so getting an asset back as opposed to letting the player leave for nothing is a win.

I'm just happy we finally have some real movement to now talk about. We're about to enter the dog days of NBA free agency, so I welcome any type of trade that could potentially make an impact next season. Now we wait to see where some of the older free agents land (CP3, Horford), as well as the big name buyout guys (Beal, Dame). I also wouldn't be surprised if now that we're in the new league year if there aren't more trades to come, as you'll remember last summer we got some doozies in mid to late summer as well.