Evaluating The Norman Powell And Robert Covington Trade For The LA Clippers

If there’s one certainty involved with the LA Clippers brand, particularly under the leadership of President Lawrence Frank and GM Michael Winger, it’s their pursuit to improve the team at every trade deadline.

In a season with Kawhi Leonard playing zero games up to this point and Paul George missing 28 games and counting with a mysterious elbow injury, the Clippers absolutely could have avoided shaking things up and rolled the same rotation into 2022-23. However, playing .500 basketball without their superstars encouraged them to push forward, cash in some assets, and look for upgrades. With the opportunity available, in similar fashion to the 2020 trade deadline when Marcus Morris was on the market, LA refused to settle.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Clippers are acquiring Norman Powell and Robert Covington from the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Eric Bledsoe, Justise Winslow, Keon Johnson, and a 2025 second-round draft pick.

The 2025 draft pick is one of the four second-round selections LA acquired in a three-team deal from Nov. 2020. It was the same trade that sent Luke Kennard to the Clippers and Landry Shamet to the Nets.

Powell, who grew up in San Diego and played four years at UCLA, is the centerpiece of the trade. He’s currently in his seventh NBA season, turning 29 years old in late May, and already has a connection with Leonard from the Toronto Raptors’ 2019 championship run.

This has the makings of a long-term play for the Clippers, too, considering Powell still has four years and roughly $75 million left on his contract. He signed a new deal with the Trail Blazers in August 2021, which means LA will have him locked up through the end of the 2025-26 season. With an average annual salary under $19 million — along with the NBA’s salary cap continuing to rise — it’s certainly a moveable contract for the Clippers down the line.

Powell is squarely in the prime of his career, scoring 20.6 points per 75 possessions on 49.2% shooting from two, 40.6% on threes, and 80.3% at the foul line. Over 42% of his total shots this year have come from beyond the arc, which fits in nicely for a Clippers unit that needs an offensive spark and a head coach that prioritizes long-range shooting.

“Norm is a two-way player who can score from all three levels, spread the floor with his shooting and guard multiple positions with his length and versatility,” Frank said in a press release.

He immediately becomes the Clippers’ best scoring option with Leonard and George sidelined and having no clear timeline for return. This move also sets up LA’s depth for next season’s potential run as title contenders, giving them another dynamic wing to unlock more lineup combinations for Lue.

Covington, who just turned 31 in December, is also joining the Clippers’ treasure trove of versatile wings. Although he’s been underwhelming as a defensive stopper and the outside shooting is wildly inconsistent since he left Philadelphia in 2018, Covington is now surrounded by a collection of strong, switchable defenders that can help make his job easier.

Over the last few years, Covington’s teams have asked him to be the perimeter enforcer against top-tier scorers while also cleaning up mistakes on backend rotations. It has stretched him too thin, considering the Rockets and Blazers weren’t blessed with above-average talent on that end of the floor.

Covington is an expiring contract and set to enter 2022 free agency. So, this will ultimately be a “prove what you can do” scenario for the 6’7” forward as the Clippers only have 28 games remaining this season. With Lue’s propensity for throwing out small-ball lineups and trusting his wings to play the “center” role in critical moments, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Covington in those spots – especially down the stretch of close games. Justise Winslow, who didn’t have anything resembling an outside shooting touch, was giving the Clippers meaningful small-ball minutes in certain matchups this year.

That could be Covington’s role in the final stretch of LA’s regular season, but he’s mixed in with a crowded group. All of Ivica Zubac, Nic Batum, Marcus Morris, Serge Ibaka, and Isaiah Hartenstein have spent time at the five this year. If Covington isn’t able to rediscover the defensive vigor and awareness he became known for, Lue has a plethora of options and can opt to use Covington in more of a part-time role.

With the trade deadline set for next Thursday, Feb. 10, the Clippers also have the ability to reroute Covington and his $13 million contract to a team specifically looking for that type of rotation player – perhaps a contender that feels like Covington is their missing piece and isn’t afraid to overpay. Nothing should be off the table when it comes to the Clippers’ front office. They are quietly keeping tabs on the market and trying to maximize their return on each deal.

For now, it’s wings galore for Lue and the Clippers. Lord of the Wings, if you will.

Because this was a 3-for-2 trade and they opened a roster spot in the process, this allows the Clippers to transfer Amir Coffey’s contract from a two-way deal to a standard NBA contract. It was imperative for the team to get Coffey’s contract switched over since two-way players aren’t eligible to play in the playoffs. Over his last 14 games, Coffey has given the Clippers a scoring boost of 16.4 points per 36 minutes on 66% true shooting, providing Lue with better shot creation, pick-and-roll playmaking, and spot-up success than anyone would’ve anticipated out of the 24-year-old in his third NBA season.

Including the two new additions, the Clippers’ rotation will take some time for Lue to figure out. It could resemble what Lucas Hann pointed out, with Powell and Reggie Jackson splitting duties as the lead ball-handler in most lineups:

Then, if we assume they don’t make another trade before next week’s deadline, they already have 11 players under contract for next season. This doesn’t include Coffey, who the team will likely try to keep after this recent breakout stretch:

Note: Batum has a player option for next season. If he declines it, the team will still have an avenue to retain him under a new deal.

By acquiring Powell, the Clippers could have just finalized their top-end talent by giving Leonard and George another valuable shot-creator, quality downhill attacker, and perimeter threat to alleviate some of the pressure once they return.

If the experiment goes awry, LA isn’t doomed. Frank and the front office have managed to build a worthy title-contender (when healthy) without hamstringing themselves with terrible contracts. Outside of the superstars, every name in the table above will all be playing on moveable salaries. Barring injuries, Powell, Morris, Kennard, Jackson, Batum, and Zubac will all hold value based on their skill-sets. And none of them will be considered “old” players next year, if something happens the Clippers need to part ways with one or multiple. Not to mention, they have Mann on an extremely cheap extension that he signed last offseason.

When the trade was announced on Friday afternoon, one of the initial reactions was that LA still needed to address a point guard issue. After sending out Bledsoe, their primary ball-handlers are now Jackson, Powell, Coffey, and Mann.

On the surface, it would seem as if they’re still hunting for another facilitator. Perhaps they try to deal Covington and Ibaka’s expiring contracts for a ball-handler to help in that regard.

However, the need for another speedy, traditional point guard is overblown. Not just for the Clippers, but for every team or front office trying to build an optimal roster. There isn’t one specific way to do it, and success can be found through various approaches. The Clippers, in particular, have shown they can generate high-quality shots with Leonard and George available – despite not being paired with an old-school point guard everyone falls in love with.

When the Clippers put all their chips forward in 2023, their best small-ball lineups will include Leonard, George, Powell, and potentially two of Jackson-Morris-Batum. If Lue wants to match up with a traditional big, Zubac has proven to be among the NBA’s top screen-setters to help his wings get into the paint (or into the mid-range for clean looks, which are highly important shots in the playoffs).

So, the Clippers could be working behind the scenes to put together a package for another guard. If they want to retain the main pieces they have, they buyout market is another option. That’s where a name such as Goran Dragić comes into play, as he’s a prime candidate to get dealt by Toronto next week and possibly enter the buyout market depending on which team acquires him.

Or, they could roll into next season with a rotation (mostly) comprised of multi-faceted wings, build on the offensive flow they had in 2021 when Leonard and George had them in the Western Conference Finals, and make roster decisions from there.

In the meantime, Powell gives them the best of both worlds – an elite off-ball threat and source of paint penetration – all in one player.

Powell has shot 43.8% on catch-and-shoot triples in his 40 games this year. Among all 86 players to attempt at least 150 threes off the catch, it would rank seventh in the league:

You’ll notice how his off-the-dribble shooting, at least from long-range, decreases by 10 percentage points. In an ideal world with Leonard and George attacking the paint and spraying out passes, Powell won’t be asked to carry a heavy usage on those tougher looks.

Interestingly, Powell also gives them another mid-range weapon. He’s sneakily one of the most efficient mid-range shooters in the league, sporting a career-high 50.0% in that area. It’s tied for ninth among all players with at least 70 attempts. Although it will never be a large proportion of his shot diet (nor will Ty Lue want it to be), Powell’s ability to have it in his back-pocket could be huge for attacking closeouts with one or two-dribble pull-ups.

Flying under the radar is Powell instantly becoming a remedy for LA’s lack of foul drawing in their offense. Currently holding a free throw attempt rate of .365 this season (calculated by FT attempts per FG attempt), Powell rises to the top of LA’s rotation when it comes to earning trips to the line.

Before the trade, Coffey led the Clippers’ guards/wings in free throw rate at .293, with Bledsoe at .250 and George far behind at .210. As a whole, the Clippers have been a bottom-five team this season in drawing whistles and freebies.

Powell, who is enjoying a career-high 5.3 free throw attempts per 36 minutes, could be a major help in that department.

If the Clippers have any more ideas or trades up their sleeves before next Thursday’s deadline, I imagine it would include moving Ibaka. Outside of that, they successfully packaged two rotation players and a rookie for a major upgrade in offensive talent.

And they didn’t sacrifice any flexibility, on the financial or roster construction side, in the process. Once the dust settles on this trade and the Clippers integrate their new pieces, the next biggest question will surround the looming updates on Leonard and George.