Clippings: Clippers unlikely to go big on trade market at deadline?

The LA Clippers entered the All-Star break in their worst momentum of the season, which means the weeklong break for most of the team could have come at a great or terrible time, we’ll have to see which it is.

Still, given the recent struggles, perhaps the Clips will dream big and swing some big trades ahead of the Mar. 25 NBA trade deadline? Obviously anything can happen, but, “The Clippers, sources say, feel very good about their core and are likely to only pursue deals that could help them on the margins,” said Sam Amick in The Athletic in a column about trade scuttlebutt.

Amick also notes that Lou Williams is off the trading block as his recent play — the team’s collective struggles of late notwithstanding — has left the Clippers to put their faith in him again.

Bobby Marks over at ESPN+ concurred, but said Williams was the best trade asset for the Clips nevertheless. Still, he doesn’t think the Clippers will — or should — realistically trade Williams away.

But the overall tone is that the Clippers think by and large they have the pieces to win, they just need to stay healthy and get their act together. For what it’s worth, I think their schedule just before the break and injuries leading up to it means we’re probably being a bit harsh in assessing the Clippers in an honest fashion lately, but the skid did expose some big questions for LA.

Will staying the course prove the right move? That’s the $2 billion question for the Clippers and the games coming out of the break will likely influence the reports about the front office’s mindset before the trade deadline. Stay tuned.

More news for Thursday:

• Two cups of Coffey: Don’t miss this terrific feature from Sabreena on Amir Coffey and his sister Nia, who just joined up with the Los Angeles Sparks, as they aim to be the first sibling duo to play in the same city simultaneously.
• Spurs looking to trade Aldridge: LaMarcus Aldridge will be on the move one way or another, but the San Antonio Spurs say they’d like a trade instead of a buyout. Who knows what they can get back under the circumstances.
• More on the era of the 3-pointer: SB Nation’s James Dator expounded on the story from Kevin Arnovitz about there being “too many” 3-pointers these days. There’s charts about why “too many” is being thrown around, although I do suspect at some point a team is going to build around a Shaq-like big who just scores 40 points every night dunking over and over again.
• What makes Zoom calls so weird: I’ll be honest, I think doing video press conferences is a boon for me personally, having to cover several teams at the same time from home means I can actually cover those teams better. But this feature from Uproxx discusses the alienating ways Zoom press conferences disconnect NBA players from the reporters covering them over time. Food for thought.
• New Clippers duds: As one of the 16 playoff teams last season, the Clippers will add an “Earned” jersey to their rotation over the second half of the year. Thoughts?

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