Powell to Heat, Collins to Clippers in three-team trade

The Clippers, Jazz and Heat agreed to a trade Monday that sends Norman Powell to Miami, John Collins to Los Angeles, and Kevin Love, Kyle Anderson and a 2027 Clippers second-round pick to Utah.

Powell, 32, is coming off his best season in which he averaged a career-high 21.8 points and was an All-Star candidate who started all 60 games he played in for the first time in his career. Miami is looking to rebound from a tumultuous season that included the Jimmy Butler trade to Golden State and ended with a first-round sweep by Cleveland. Powell adds offensive firepower and was a 42% shooter from behind the arc last season. The 6-foot-4 guard is one of the league's hardest-working players and should seamlessly fit Miami's culture. He is extension eligible and is entering the final year of his deal at $20.4 million this season.

Collins, 27, is the kind of athletic big the Clippers have coveted in the past. The 6-9 forward averaged 19 points and 8.2 rebounds in 40 games for the Jazz last season and is also entering the final year of his contract with $26.5 million due this coming season.

Both Powell and Collins were unlikely to sign extensions with their respective teams, according to sources.

Lawrence Frank, Clippers president of basketball operations, said the team had been targeting Collins "for the past couple of years."

"He's in his prime," Frank said in a call with reporters on Monday. "He's a power forward who can also play some small-ball 5. He's someone who brings great athleticism, has shown the ability to score at all three levels. He's tremendous runner, roller, vertical threat. I think James [Harden] will be able to unlock certain parts of his game that can unlock our team. He also can help space the floor, shot 40% from 3 this past year, will also help with our rebounding."

Frank said the Clippers want to remain nimble with cap flexibility if a young star becomes available down the road while remaining as competitive as they can be for this season.

"It's constantly pushing and how can we be opportunistic and yet staying disciplined," Frank said. "We are one of the two oldest teams in the league and we are going to over time have to have an infusion of younger talent -- not to replace the guys we have, just to add to them, and you are able to do that through free agency, the draft and trades. So we did want to have flexibility going forward, yet at the same time we wanted to get better as a team."

Although Powell was one of the league's best sixth men in his first two-plus seasons in Los Angeles before thriving as a starter last season with Kawhi Leonard out for the first two months, the Clippers have been looking for more cap flexibility.

Leonard has two years remaining on his contract, and the Clippers' moves this offseason have been aligned for future flexibility. They just agreed to a new two-year, $81.5 million contract with James Harden. The second year of Harden's deal has a player option and is partially guaranteed, sources told ESPN. Los Angeles also signed center Brook Lopez to a two-year, $18 million deal with a team option for the second year of the contract.

The Clippers can use another shooting guard and playmaking point guard and have the $5.3 million non-tax midlevel left to use. In fact, Frank said that the Clippers still have to add shooting and playmaking.

"We're not done," he said.

Utah has turned Collins' contract into an asset of a second-round pick, and it will also create a $26.6 million trade exception. The Jazz have traded Collin Sexton and a second-round pick to Charlotte for Jusuf Nurkic and completed a contract buyout of guard Jordan Clarkson this offseason.

The 36-year-old Love, a five-time All-Star, averaged 5.3 points and 4.1 rebounds in 23 games for the Heat last season. Anderson, 31, acquired by Miami in the trade with the Warriors involving Butler last season, averaged 6.7 points in 25 games after the trade.