Lance Stephenson Traded to Clippers

Lance Stephenson has been traded to the Clippers for Spencer Hawes and Matt Barnes as LA aim to give their bench some further depth, ball handling and most importantly, scoring. This for me is a total steal for the Clippers as Barnes brings nothing but artificial toughness to the team and Spencer Hawes played next to no minutes last season anyway.

Despite a horrible season with the Hornets, there's certainly still hope for Stephenson to get his career back on track with the Clippers who will surely be title contenders again next season.

Lance is on an easy contract for the Clippers to consume, a team-friendly 3-year, $27.4m contract with a team option for the third year. With little cap room this upcoming offseason, Clippers needed to maximise their returns for as small of a cost as possible.

There's the issue of chemistry with Lance Stephenson and ball dominant point guards (Kemba Walker, Chris Paul) but when you only have to give up two rotation players, then the risk is worth the potential reward for the Clippers.

Another concern is that Spencer Hawes was the only proper backup centre for DeAndre Jordan. So if Jordan walks away from the max contract the Clippers are going to give him, then they're stuck with Ekpe Udoh and (gulp) Glen 'Big Baby' Davis to fill in at the centre position.

The fit will see Stephenson be the primary ball handler, coming off the bench most likely. Look out for him being the next J.R. Smith on a title contending team.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQF5oAiZNaU