One of the biggest trades of the NBA season happened on Thursday when the Cavaliers sent Isaiah Thomas, Channing Frye and a first round pick to the Lakers in return for Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance.
Jordan Clarkson was involved in trade rumors for most of the season, and he seems happy to be getting a chance with the Cavaliers.
According to Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times, Clarkson will be getting on a plane on Friday morning to meet his new team in Atlanta. Clarkson had this to say about the trade:
Yeah that’s real exciting. Just really changed my mindset on everything knowing that we’re coming in there trying to compete for a title.”
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN there was mutual interest between Clarkson and the Lakers to get a deal done.
The Los Angeles Lakers, needing to shed salary for summer free agency, had been hopeful of waiting until the end of the season to move Jordan Clarkson — owed $26 million beyond this season — but there’s a mutual desire to find something sooner than later.
So what are the Cavaliers getting in Jordan Clarkson? They will be getting a scorer who has provided a big punch off the bench. He appeared in 53 games for the Lakers this year averaging 14.5 points while shooting better than 44 percent from the field.
He has also worked hard the last couple of season improving his defense, and really should be a big help on that side of the floor.
The Cavaliers also have a pretty team friendly contract that has him locked up through 2020. If he can stay healthy and can continue to improve, he could turn out to be a steal.