Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news that the Clippers would waive Eric Gordon by the 12 AM ET 6/28 deadline, and shortly after the Clippers gave the official announcement.
This is a surprise, of sorts, for two reasons. First, the Clippers had mentioned numerous times how much they liked Eric Gordon – after all, they traded for him just four months ago, and shortly thereafter moved him into the starting lineup. While they didn’t give up a ton for Gordon, they traded fan favorite Luke Kennard (nearly a decade younger) and moved back ultimately 10 spots in the first round (though they did pick up a few second round picks) to get him. Second, his massive non-guaranteed $21M contract seemed useful as an expiring as a trade chip, whether before the guarantee date for a team looking for quick savings, or later for a team trying to get off long-term money.
However, I don’t mind the Clippers waiving Gordon in terms of their actual roster for next season. He’s a fine rotation player, with great shooting and capable enough ball-handling and defense. But he’s also 35, has been in decline for years, and the Clippers have younger, more talented, and frankly better guards who could be getting those minutes in Bones Hyland and Terance Mann. I would much rather those guys get minutes next year and have somewhat less depth than go through a repeat of 2023.
While fans should not care about this, getting off of Eric Gordon’s $21M deal will save Steve Ballmer a whopping $110M in luxury tax payments next year. It also pushes them to just over the Second Apron in the CBA – with a few minor deals, they could get under, and gain access to the non-taxpayer Mid Level Exception ($5M) to try to bolster their roster.
Really, if the Clippers didn’t think they could get a deal for Gordon, waiving him to mitigate the guard roster jam, free minutes for young guys, generate savings, and get closer to at least minimal cap flexibility makes sense. This particular move is not the issue (though I do feel like they could have gotten something in trade).
Instead, the blame should be on the front office for the Gordon trade at all. While Gordon was a better “fit” on the 2023 roster over Luke Kennard, he was clearly not close to a game-changer at this point in his career, and the Clippers gave up a younger player and moved down a real amount in the draft for 27 mediocre games in a lost season. He was a questionable target due to his duplicative-ness with Norm Powell and his age on a roster screaming for youth, and just four months later, the Clippers have moved on. I didn’t hate the deal at the time as much, but in hindsight it’s a big ole F.
If the Clippers are looking for a quieter summer, all that might remain is a salary dump of Marcus Morris and then re-signing of Russell Westbrook and Mason Plumlee. Hopefully the Clippers do a little more than that, but not flipping Gordon’s expiring in a bigger deal throws some doubt on that.
While I won’t miss Eric Gordon on the court much at all, I do hope he makes his way to a contender (I’m sure he will) to make another run at a ring.
