Grade the Trade: Golden State Warriors send Chris Paul back to LA in latest blockbuster idea

Laying out the blockbuster trade

The Los Angeles Lakers may have an interest in adding Chris Paul, but they don’t have a player the Warriors would be interested in. The LA Clippers, however, have been rumored to be considering deals for All-Star wing Paul George, and given both their interest in Paul this offseason and his history with the team, a reunion could make sense.

Because of the rules about aggregating salary, for the Warriors to make this move now they would need to loop it into a three-team deal with the original Wizards trade, and Washington can’t send any other players out with Paul. That would lead to a construction that looks something like this:

The Wizards change nothing from their part of the deal with the Warriors, simply adding Jason Preston to satisfy the “touching” requirements by interacting with the Clippers. It could also be a second-round pick going from the Clippers to the Wizards, or the Warriors could have the Wizards send the 2023 second (they used it to take Trayce Jackson-Davis) to LA instead.

For the Clippers, they don’t get one premium asset for George, but they get a collection of interesting ones. Paul is a reliable point-guard, Gary Payton II is a better version of Terence Mann, and Jonathan Kuminga still has All-Star potential and gives them athleticism at forward that they don’t currently have.

They could try to make a run with this group, or use these pieces to make a different win-now trade in a few months. This may not be enough for the Clippers to break up their pairing of George and Kawhi Leonard, but it’s fair value and not without hope of finding an agreement from the LA side.

What about the Warriors – would they make this trade?