July 2: Bledsoe And Redick Traded
In a three-team trade, the Clippers send guard Eric Bledsoe and forward Caron Butler to the Suns and a second-round pick to the Bucks, receiving forward Jared Dudley from the Suns and guard J.J. Redick (sign-and-trade) from the Bucks. The Suns also send a second-round pick to the Bucks.
• See the news story on the deal
L.A. Clippers: A-
With Doc Rivers on the sidelines and Chris Paul agreeing to a new five-year contract, the most important decision left for the Clippers was how -- and when -- to cash in Bledsoe as a trade chip. They've done well for themselves by turning a reserve whose value was always going to be limited by Paul into a pair of starters.
Dudley and Redick are ideal role players because they are dangerous from beyond the arc and know their limitations. Both players are efficient scorers who will benefit from Paul's ability to set them up. And they come at reasonable rates. Dudley, who will make $4.25 million the next two seasons before he has the ability to opt out, has one of the NBA's better non-rookie contracts, and Redick will make less per year than Butler.
As a result, the Clippers' payroll is basically the same as it was before the trade. The biggest limitation to the Clippers filling out their bench is that they have only their midlevel exception and the veteran's minimum to offer free agents. They have no backups to big men Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan under contract, and while Jamal Crawford might back up Paul, they could use another true point guard. Those needs paled in comparison to the Clippers' questions on the wings, which were answered Tuesday.
Milwaukee: B
If we're grading the combination of deals that brought Redick to and from Milwaukee in a span of four-plus months, the grade is F. The Bucks turned promising forward Tobias Harris into three months of Redick -- who wasn't a factor during their four-game loss to Miami -- and a pair of second-round picks, which is terrible value.
I graded the Harris-Redick trade a C+ at the deadline under the impression that Milwaukee would re-sign Redick. That was the plan, but Redick was so disenchanted by his brief stay that he never seemed to consider a return. Given that, the Bucks did well to get a couple of picks in return to salvage something from their deadline mistake.
Phoenix: B+
There are a couple of reasons to quibble with this trade from the Suns' perspective. Taking on Butler's contract means adding about $6 million to their payroll for this season, which means Phoenix will no longer have a meaningful amount of cap space. Additionally, a backcourt of Bledsoe and Goran Dragic presents some issues because defenses don't have to respect Bledsoe beyond the arc.
Those are merely quibbles because we're still early in a much longer Suns rebuilding process. Butler's contract comes off the books next summer, when Phoenix should have plenty of flexibility even with a big raise for Bledsoe. There's time for the Suns to sort out whether Dragic and Bledsoe can return together. For now, Bledsoe is a young asset on a team in need of them. He has the most upside of anyone on the Phoenix roster if he can capably run a team for extended minutes in addition to wreaking havoc defensively. We'll know more soon.
• More grades: Draft-day deals, Celtics-Nets blockbuster