You can’t go wrong with a playoff-experienced veteran point guard on a reasonable contract. That has many teams around the league interested in Oklahoma City Thunder PG George Hill.
The Los Angeles Clippers are one of such teams, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
In a trade deadline article, Charania reported that “several playoff contenders” are interested in Hill, as well as forward Trevor Ariza, who is on the Thunder roster but did not join the team after being traded from the Detroir Pistons this offseason.
The fact that Hill has another year on his contract makes him more interesting to teams, but that also alleviates some pressure of the Thunder to sell. Charania wrote:
“The Thunder are happy retaining Hill into the second half of the season unless a team meets their asking price for the veteran point guard.”
Maybe that’s just a leverage move by OKC and general manager Sam Presti, but Hill’s $10 million contract next season would still be tradeable and is only partially guaranteed.
For the Clippers, the only team Charania mentioned explicitly in the Hill and Ariza section, Hill makes sense because Los Angeles needs a more offensive-focused point guard. Patrick Beverley is very good at what he does, but he’s not a creator or playmaker the way a typical point guard is. Hill would be an upgrade over backup Reggie Jackson as well.
That’s just one team who could fight for his service.
As for Ariza, the main challenge for a team in acquiring the forward would be matching the contract. Ariza is on the final year of his deal and is paid $12.8 million this season, so a team would have to match that.
Given as the forward did not join the Thunder, the cost to acquire him from OKC should be low. If he’s not traded, it would be reasonable toa assume possible he would be a buyout candidate, which would add some strain on Presti to trade him.
The NBA trade deadline is on March 25.
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