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The NBA Trade Deadline is nearing, and teams are starting to make deals. The most recent trade in the NBA is one that involved former Kentucky Wildcats star Eric Bledsoe.
Bledsoe will head to the Portland Trail Blazers along with Keon Johnson and a second-round pick.
For the Blazers, they’ll be sending Robert Covington and Normal Powell to the Los Angeles Clippers. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report this trade.
The Clippers are trading Eric Bledsoe, Justise Winslow, Keon Johnson and future second-round pick to the Trail Blazers for Norman Powell and Robert Covington, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 4, 2022
This makes sense for the Clippers, a team that may look to compete. However, this trade seems to be more about the financial aspect for each team.
Covington, for example, is on an expiring contract worth just under $13 million. The Clippers want to have some money in free agency to be able to bring in the pieces it will take to win a championship.
As for the Blazers, they’ll have to eat Bledsoe’s contract. He’s going to remain under contract until after next season, one in which he’ll make over $19 million. That’s one reason the Clippers had to attach a young prospect and a pick to this deal.
As for Bledsoe, this is going to continue his game of hopscotch throughout the league. Bledsoe spent nearly three seasons with the Bucks then headed to New Orleans for a year and will have played the bulk of this season with the Clippers.
The Pelicans will be the guard’s fourth team in three years. Bledsoe is averaging 9.9 points and 4.2 assists so far this season. He’s shooting 42% from the field and 31% from deep, both under his career averages.
That said, alongside C.J. McCollum, Bledsoe should play backup to rising star Anfernee Simons.
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