LA Clippers President ‘Excited’ After Trading For Luke Kennard

The LA Clippers traded 2019 playoff hero Landry Shamet and Rodney McGruder to the Detroit Pistons. In exchange, they got Luke Kennard, draft rights to Jay Scrubb, and 4 second-round picks (2023 via Portland, and 2024, 2025, and 2026 via Detroit).

Clippers’ President Lawrence Frank spoke highly of the moves made by the front-office, complimenting Kennard and getting excited about the extra picks.

“Luke is a young, ascending player who has worked hard to establish himself as a reliable shooter and playmaker. We’ve admired him from afar for quite a while and are excited to have him.”

Lawrence also spoke about how this deal allowed them to recoup draft assets. “The draft assets allow us the opportunity to continue drafting and developing young talent, or otherwise explore trade opportunities, for years to come,” Frank said on Thursday, confirming the moves.

Obviously, LA gave up a lot of assets when they traded to bring Paul George to the team. However, trading the potential defensive upside of Landry Shamet for Luke Kennard, who is a sniper, may aid the Clippers better in the short-term.

For now, they have another shooter, and a future pick that can be used in other deals.

LA Clippers stacking up assets

The Clippers face an uncertain future, even though the team in its current form got together last season. Both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George can potentially leave at the end of the season.

While it is unlikely, an untenable situation sometimes makes players leave regardless. We have seen Kawhi and PG both leave teams before, just because it wasn’t going the way they had hoped it would.

Adding Kennard was a great move. They finally have a player that can exclusively hug the perimeter and shoot, a talent they have sorely missed this season. Shamet was beloved by the Clipper fanbase, but it was his potential value that got back 4 second-round picks to LA.

Hopefully, these picks will help LA make some more tweaks around their roster as they prepare to take the Lakers’ crown one more time.