The Los Angeles Clippers have not been shy about making trades in the past decade. They put themselves on the map when they traded for Chris Paul and, since then, have been wheeling and dealing to try and bring the franchise their first championship. In the NBA, GMs have many tools to make trades work. However, there are always trades that seem extremely lopsided and can upset rivals. One NBA insider, Brian Windhorst, revealed that the Clippers trade for Norm Powell made one NBA owner furious.
Los Angeles Clippers Norm Powell Trade
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst revealed on an episode of the podcast The Hoop Collective that the trade for Norm Powell was one that caused owners to push for stricter rules in the new CBA. He was speaking to the Los Angeles Clippers player on the podcast and revealed the insider information.
“I don’t know if you ever heard this, but when the Clippers traded for you, it was like the straw that broke the camel’s back with the owners. So like that trade, what brought you in, like, I won’t go into all the mechanics of it, but the day that trade went down, it was like a couple of days before the trade deadline. I was actually in LA at breakfast with an owner.”
“And I don’t know if Woj, whoever broke the trade, we were sitting at breakfast when the trade, he was so, Norm, he was so pissed off. He was like, I cannot believe that the Clippers got Norm Powell. You know, this is like, we got to put a stop to this.”
The trade looks very one-sided in 2024. The Los Angeles Clippers were able to acquire Powell and Robert Covington from the Portland Trail Blazers for Eric Bledsoe, Justise Winslow, Keon Johnson, and a 2025 second-round pick. Johnson is the only player who is still in the league, and he is a bench player for the Brooklyn Nets. Rival owners were upset the Clippers were able to get an all-star caliber player for basically nothing.
The New CBA
If you are a fan of the NBA, you’ve undoubtedly heard about the dreaded “second apron” that came with the new bargaining agreement. Going over a certain salary threshold was bad before, but there were still plenty of ways teams could work around it. Now, teams who overspend are pretty much stuck. These are all the restrictions for teams above the second apron.
- Teams cannot use a trade exception generated by aggregating the salaries of multiple players
- Teams cannot include cash in a trade
- Teams cannot use a trade exception generated in a prior year
- First-round picks seven years out are frozen (unable to be traded)
- A team’s first-round pick is moved to the end of the first round if they remain in the second apron for three out of five seasons
- No access to the $5 million taxpayer midlevel exception
These rules make it very difficult to acquire players with high salaries. Under the previous CBA, owners with deep pockets could pay a massive luxury tax bill but have a loaded team of players. It is the rules that allowed the Golden State Warriors to acquire Kevin Durant while still keeping Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. They also signed players as well, opting to pay a massive tax bill for the championships. It wasn’t those teams but, apparently, the Los Angeles Clippers who sparked the need for change.
Final Thoughts
This is an interesting nugget from Windhorst. We’ve already seen the new CBA have an effect on this year’s trade deadline. Certain teams cannot acquire players. Rumors indicate the Phoenix Suns would love to add Jimmy Butler, but there isn’t a way to make the math work. Teams like Boston could find themselves in trouble down the road significantly if a star player gets injured. It will be interesting to see if the fallout from past lopsided trades is less player movement in the next half-decade.
