The Clippers keep churning, and this time the move brings in a familiar kind of useful veteran: Max Strus.
Los Angeles is acquiring the guard/forward from the Cavaliers in a multi-team deal that also sends Peyton Watson to the Cavs. The Clippers are putting in the second-round pick they received in the Johni Broome trade, along with the rights to Ismael Kamagate. No extra salary has to go out from the Clippers, since Strus’ $16.6 million salary fits into the John Collins TPE.
On paper, it’s a clean bit of business. The Clippers are parting with a fringe stash prospect in Kamagate - who is now 25 and still in Europe - and a middling second-rounder for a 30-year-old who has spent most of his seven NBA seasons with the Heat and then the Cavs. Strus has averaged 10.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.3 assists for his career while shooting 37% from three on 6.3 attempts per game.
He brings the kind of skill set teams always seem to want in the playoffs. He’s a little undersized for a small forward, but he has generally been a fine defender, even if he slipped some last season, and his real value comes on offense with that three-point shooting. He’s also on an expiring deal, which gives the Clippers flexibility to move him again at the deadline if he’s playing well.
The one obvious concern is health. Strus played just 12 games last season and has topped 70 games only once, though that issue matters less when you’re talking about a one-year deal.
There’s also a world where the Clippers decide they like him enough to keep him around. He’s the kind of player who fits: he competes, brings energy, and by all accounts is strong in the locker room.
Still, this is only part of the picture. The Clippers’ roster is already crowded and oddly shaped, with 16 players under contract for next season before counting the Kawhi for BI and Gradey Dick swap, or Bennedict Mathurin.
A lot of those players are 2s or 3s, and the math is getting tight. Just like with Beal, this move would further point toward Cam Christie being waived and Mathurin likely not re-signed, but even then the Clippers would still need to clear room if the Kawhi trade happens.
So while the talent level went up today, the roster balance still looks messy. Another move is coming, whether it’s rerouting Dick somewhere else or dumping Isaiah Jackson. For now, the Clippers have added Max Strus, and that’s a real upgrade in the short term.
In Other News...
Bradley Beal Gives Clippers A Bench Threat Fans Should Watch
Bradley Beal is back in the mix for the Clippers after the team chose to bring him in on a two-year contract, banking on the veteran guard to add a different kind of scoring punch. Even with the season-ending hip injury that cut short his last year after just eight games, the fit is easy to picture: a proven shot-maker with plenty of experience, now positioned to strengthen a second unit that can use another reliable creator.
Beal is expected to work as a sixth man, which could make him one of the more interesting bench pieces to watch in the Western Conference. His time with the Phoenix Suns showed he can still provide offense in the right role, and the recovery window since the injury gives him a chance to come back with something to prove. If he settles in quickly, the Clippers could end up with a bench threat that changes the tone of games when the starters sit. [Read more 🡒]
Kawhi Leonard Investigation Keeps Dragging The Clippers Back Into Spotlight
Nearly a year into the NBAs review of Kawhi Leonards old Raptors arrangement, the leagues attention keeps circling back to a matter the Clippers would probably prefer to leave in the rearview mirror. The investigation has become a major topic among league executives, and every new report seems to pull Los Angeles back into the conversation, even though the central questions reach back to Leonards move to Toronto.
Recent reporting added another layer of confusion when it suggested the league had found no evidence implicating Steve Ballmer, only for the NBA to push back and say those accounts contained significant inaccuracies. For the Clippers, the issue is less about the public back-and-forth than the fact that the story is still alive at all, with the league continuing to examine whether Leonards Raptors-related deal crossed the line on salary-cap rules. [Read more 🡒]
Nuggets Just Made A Peyton Watson Move Fans Will Debate
The Clippers latest offseason move came out of a complicated three-team deal that sent Peyton Watson from Denver to Cleveland, shifted Cam Whitmore to the Cavaliers, and added more draft capital into the mix for the Nuggets. From Los Angeles side, the most immediate part of the transaction is familiar enough in this league: a useful rotation piece changing teams as front offices try to keep reshaping the edges of a roster that still has bigger questions to answer.
What makes this one worth watching in Clippers circles is how the deal was structured and what it says about the teams flexibility moving forward. Max Strus is headed to Los Angeles, and the Clippers are able to take him in using the $17 million trade exception from the John Collins sign-and-trade, a reminder that their summer bookkeeping can still open real roster doors even after the headline names are off the board. [Read more 🡒]