Lance Stephenson Traded to Clippers for Matt Barnes and Spencer Hawes
The Charlotte Hornets traded Lance Stephenson to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for Matt Barnes and Spencer Hawes on June 15.
The Clippers sent out a release announcing the trade, per Arash Markazi of ESPN LA:
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports first reported the news. The Hornets are unlikely to keep Barnes, per Wojnarowski.
Stephenson regressed in a big way this past year, averaging 8.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists a night, all of which were drops from their 2013-14 equivalents. His three-point shooting also fell from 35.2 percent a year ago to an almost-unfathomable 17.1 percent during the regular season.
According to NBA.com, the Hornets were 5.5 points better offensively per 100 possessions when Stephenson was off the floor.
The Clippers are now essentially taking the same leap of faith that Charlotte did last offseason. Wojnarowski detailed how the Clippers plan on using Stephenson:
"The Clippers are considering the idea of using Stephenson as the primary ballhandler when All-Star Chris Paul is out of the game, league sources said. Stephenson struggled with the way Charlotte point guard Kemba Walker dominated the ball on offense, and will assuredly find a similar situation with Paul in Los Angeles.
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Stephenson can be erratic at times on the court. But there's no question that if he's focused and channeling his Indiana Pacers self, Los Angeles would be getting the perimeter defender and wing scorer it sorely needs to truly become an NBA title contender.
Plus, he's on an extremely reasonable deal. The 24-year-old will make $9 million in 2015-16 and then has a club option for 2016-17. That's a bargain if Stephenson improves even slightly next year.
Fox Sports' D.J. Foster believes that the team wouldn't have much trouble pulling the plug on the Stephenson experiment if things took a turn for the worse:
Looking at the Hornets' haul, you do have to wonder whether trading Stephenson is worth taking on Barnes and Hawes—the latter in particular.
Barnes is set to become a free agent in 2016, so at least he's only a one-year commitment, unless they end up releasing him.
Hawes, meanwhile, will earn slightly more than $11 million over the next two years, and he has a player option worth $6 million in 2017. That's a lot of money to pay a player who averaged 17.5 minutes a night on a team that wasn't exactly overflowing with bench help.
CBS Sports' Sam Vecenie wonders if the Hornets should have looked to get additional compensation for taking on Hawes' contract:
Trading for Stephenson is a high-risk, high-upside move for a Clippers team desperate for backcourt shot-creators other than Chris Paul. In April, Charlotte head coach Steve Clifford told Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer that he couldn't "find a group that played well" with Stephenson.
That burden now falls upon Clippers coach Doc Rivers.
Contract information courtesy of Spotrac.
