The Real NBA Unicorn: The “Win-Win” Blake Griffin Trade

In a re-examination of the Blake Griffin Trade, it appears that both teams got what they wanted.

Rarely in the NBA do you trade a superstar and get 1:1 value for them in return but when Blake Griffin was traded to the Detroit Pistons, it worked out for the Los Angeles Clippers, too.

The Spurs were resigned to taking on DeMar DeRozan’s massive contract, Jakob Pöltl, and a late first round pick for Kawhi Leonard. The Griffin trade was viewed a little bit differently because of the long term deal he had signed that offseason and of course he’s not as good as Leonard.

Just like the Leonard deal, the Clippers did not receive a star back from the assets acquired from Detroit. All that may be true, but what is also true is how that deal set the stage for what ultimately did happen, the Clippers trading for essentially Paul George and Leonard.

How often do we view with consensus that both teams “won” any given trade? Much trade analysis is viewed through a zero sum prism, meaning that if one team “won” the other team had to have “lost”. One particular trade that fit this description at first glance was the George trade completed by the Pacers that got them Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis from the Thunder, neither of which was projected to be an all star level talent.

But to everyone’s surprise the next year, Oladipo became the star of the team and Sabonis is now featured in the starting lineup alongside Myles Turner in the frontcourt. Meanwhile, the Thunder got their second star and seemed to be on the rise after George shocked the world and re-signed with the Thunder that next offseason.

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By any measure, you can now definitively say both teams benefited from that trade. George had hit his ceiling in Indiana and wanted to play with another star and Indiana got to rebuild on the fly without tanking at all.

One of the strange tensions of NBA fandom is that of the coalition that thinks tanking is the solution and those who view staying relevant more important than draft picks. I’m of the opinion that staying relevant as long as possible is a better way to building talent and it seems Detroit operates along those lines as well. This team doesn’t have the luxury of a patient and enduring fan base much like the Detroit Lions, who can suffer year in and year out without much reprisal in terms of ticket sales.

The Griffin trade remains one of the most impactful trades in recent memory for both the Pistons and the entire league. It’s likely Leonard would rather have someone like George as his sidekick rather than an aging Griffin, so getting off his deal was paramount to the Clippers long-term future once they caught wind Leonard was interested in joining.

My pure speculation about the Leonard interest was that the Clippers found out during the 2017-18 season, which is why Griffin who had just signed a five-year max contract that offseason was made available. Stan Van Gundy himself was surprised that Griffin was even made available.

For the Pistons, it was a trade ownership was more than willing to make despite all of the known risks of Griffin’s health and possibly diminishing game. It’s a trade I think can be described as a win for the Pistons.

Griffin was named to the All-NBA Third Team last season, while the guys they got rid of for him will never be on that level. Tobias Harris, a guy no one thinks is a first or even second option on a contending team now makes more money than Griffin does (Harris signed for 5 years, $180 million this offseason). Boban Marjanovic was in the latest John Wick movie which is more notable than his backup center play. Avery Bradley is a shell of the player he was just two seasons ago.

Not only that, but the Pistons bought themselves relevance and an opportunity to let younger players grow. There’s already pressure on Luke Kennard to improve in his third year, but without Griffin and the roster as it is, it’d be asking a lot for the young guys on this team to keep up the scoring load necessary to be a consistent winner.

Which, is another reason I don’t think tanking is a good idea. Say, you do end up losing a bunch of games and getting a high draft pick. But what if that doesn’t work? Is strategically losing a winning stategy? You could point to the 76ers and say their years of losing got them Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.

But I think playing winning basketball games and games that matter later in the season is a much more sustainable way of playing than trying to tank. Building a winning culture usually takes time, and losing a bunch doesn’t build good habits. Just look at the Minnesota Timberwolves.

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That’s a team we’ve all had pegged as one that’s on the come up because of their young talent. Yet, the only time they’ve done any winning at all was when they had Jimmy Butler on their team. He’s certainly a guy who isn’t going to tolerate losing habits, which is probably part of why he forced himself out of Minnesota.

Even the 76ers are looking at a future where they just extended Ben Simmons for 5 years, $170 million despite never making a 3-point shot in an NBA game. Embiid has been hurt during the playoffs the last few years and shown how limited a team with a big man as it’s best player can be. All those years of “Trust the Process” have come down to those two players and I’m not so certain it’s going to end well for them next season, especially if Simmons doesn’t become a credible perimeter threat.

Nobody thinks the Phoenix Suns or Cleveland Cavaliers are going to good next year and those two have been in the lottery more than anyone else lately (excluding the LeBron James years for Cleveland).

The Warriors weren’t tanking when they developed their team around Stephen Curry, the Rockets haven’t tanked and got their hands on James Harden and have been building around him ever since. There’s a much better argument to be made for staying relevant rather than tanking for draft picks.

But let’s get back to the Clippers and Pistons trade. While those players ended up leaving or getting traded (Tobias to the 76ers), the Clippers did acquire one important piece to the Leonard trade, which was the draft rights to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. His potential as a player made it much easier to stomach for the Thunder to trade away their most coveted asset in George.

In the end, both teams clearly benefited from this transaction with the Clippers freeing up future room to bring in Leonard and a possible second star and the Pistons got a star player without giving up significant assets.