NBA Trade Rumors: Los Angeles Clippers Proposed Trading Blake Griffin for Karl-Anthony Towns
Nobody can blame the Los Angeles Clippers for not being ambitious enough.
According to Basketball Insiders' Michael Scotto, the Clippers have recently offered forward Blake Griffin to the Minnesota Timberwolves for center Karl-Anthony Towns, and as expected, the Timberwolves turned down the offer right away.
"The trade proposal didn't advance past an exploratory call from the Clippers as Minnesota declined, league sources told Basketball Insiders," Scotto said in his report.
First of all, this trade offer makes absolutely no sense for the Timberwolves.
Sure, Griffin is an All-Star caliber player, but Towns is considered a generational talent especially on the offensive end of the floor. Why would they trade away one of the league's premier centers for a player with an extensive injury history like Griffin?
There's also the matter of the salaries involved. As noted by Scotto, a straight swap is impossible because Griffin is making $29.5 million this season while Towns is only earning $6.2 million. To make the trade work financially, the Timberwolves will have to include more players in the trade.
There's just no way Minnesota would accept such a one-sided deal.
In any case, NBC Sports' Dan Feldman has pointed out that it's actually not unusual for teams to make absurd offers. The problem is, this one leaked to the media.
"Scotto's sources could have had any number of agendas. Maybe they wanted to embarrass the Clippers for wasting the Timberwolves' time. Maybe they want to inflate Griffin's value, hoping to implicitly put Griffin on Towns' level. Maybe they just wanted to show off their knowledge of private negotiations," Feldman said.
Feldman notes that this sends a message to Griffin as well. The All-Star forward may have signed a five-year, $173-million contract with the Clippers during the offseason, but he's not untouchable.
"He's not entirely secure in L.A. — if the Clippers can trade him for a better, younger, healthier, cheaper player," Feldman stated.
