Varolyn

The Clippers have been having issues ever since trading for Harden. The team has taken a step back defensively, and the roster as a whole has too many guards. Their center depth is lacking with the injury to Plumlee, and Zubac has been underwhelming.

But even though the Clippers have few assets left to trade, they still have some options. Kelly Olynyk would be a great fit in this new Clippers line up. He's a good three-point shooter as a center, which allows him to fit in with both Harden and Westbrook lineups with the spacing he provides. Moreover, he's a decent defender and would solve at least some of the issues that the Clippers have at the 5. Olynyk is making around 11 million this year, around the same that PJ Tucker is making. Tucker has at times played center for the Clippers, so Olynyk would be a big upgrade over him, and the Clippers could attach a second-round pick or two to make the trade more appealing.

So should the Clippers trade for him?

With the addition of James Harden, the Clippers have a star studded if a bit old core. Between Harden, PG13, Kawhi, and Westbrook, there are multiple all-star/all-nba/all-defense/MVP selections. Moreover, Harden in theory is a great complimentary player to go with Paul George and Kawhi, and Westbrook is having a bit of a revitalization with the Clippers. This core has a good mix of offensive and defensive stars and is surrounded by solid role players such as Norman Powell and Zubac. Finally, they have the best point differential in the first week of the season, and this was without Harden.

So do you consider the Clippers to be a super-team now that they have Harden?

Ever since signing a 5 year, 180-million-dollar contract with the Sixers back in 2019, many have called it one of the worst contracts in the NBA, and one that severely limited the Sixers flexibility in cap. He was taking up a bunch of cap space, and his contract was so big that few teams would be willing to trade for him.

However, this is Harris' last year in the deal, making him an expiring player. He's due just over 39 million for this season, and re-building teams or teams looking to increase their cap greatly in the next off-season may have interest in trading Harris. On the Sixers part, they could trade Harris for a few young role-players to help with their roster. And for those of you that think that this is unlikely to happen: the Lakers were able to pull this off when they traded away Westbrook following the deadline.

So given that Harris is now on an expiring contract, does that make him a valuable trade asset?