Winners and Losers from Clippers, Jazz and Heat's John Collins-Norman Powell Trade
On Monday morning, the Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat and Utah Jazz came to an agreement on a trade that will send:
- Norman Powell to the Heat
- John Collins to the Clippers
- Kevin Love, Kyle Anderson and a 2027 second-round pick from the Clippers to the Jazz.
ESPN's Shams Charania was first to break the news.
And now, we'll use the tried-and-true "winners and losers" exercise to sort through this three-team deal.
Winner: Heat
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With Powell coming off a breakout campaign in which he started all 60 of his games, shot 41.8 percent from deep and averaged career highs in points (21.8), threes (3.0) and assists (2.1) per game, Miami getting him for just Love and Anderson feels like a borderline coup.
Both played fewer than 500 minutes for Miami last season, and Love will turn 37 in September. The likelihood of him contributing anything to the Heat this season was low. Replacing him and Anderson with one of the league's more dangerous high-volume three-point shooters is a clear win.
The fit with Powell and Tyler Herro may be a bit wonky. Neither is a natural distributor, though Herro may be a bit underrated on that front. Both would rather get their own shots up than create for others. But there may be enough secondary creation between those two and Bam Adebayo to be fine when all three are on the floor.
And again, even with fit and potential defensive concerns in mind, relative to what Miami had to give up, this is almost a no-brainer.
Loser (Depending on What He Wants): Norman Powell
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You have to go a little "Charlie at the bulletin board" to get there, but there's at least an argument that Clippers finished 2024-25 as that season's third-most dangerous team.
The Denver Nuggets gave the eventual champion Oklahoma City Thunder their biggest postseason scare, and L.A. pushed Denver to seven games one round earlier.
Even before this trade, it felt like the Clippers would be back in the mix for 2025-26, too. They appeared to be bringing back most of the core that finished the season as strong as anyone, while adding Brook Lopez to the bench.
With Powell, even in the loaded Western Conference, L.A. was going to be at least a fringe title contender. Now, he's headed to a Miami team that feels like it has almost no chance to compete for a championship.
In that sense, you can probably dub Powell one of this deal's "losers."
But he's also going to the inferior conference, where he'll get a chance to play against more bad defenses. He'll still be third on his team's pecking order, but Herro and Adebayo don't consume as many possessions as Kawhi Leonard and James Harden.
If Powell's not all that concerned about high-level winning, there's an argument he's headed to a situation that's a little better for him on an individual level.
TBD: Clippers
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This is an interesting move for the Clippers that may foreshadow the addition of another ball-handler. A Chris Paul reunion maybe? Bradley Beal on a thrifty deal after the Phoenix Suns buyout?
Either possibility becoming a reality would make this an obvious win for L.A. If things stop here, it's a little tougher to wrap your head around, especially since the Clippers already picked up Brook Lopez in free agency.
Collins may be most interesting as a sort of small-ball 5 who can space the floor and survive on some defensive switches outside. He's not quite as versatile at the 4, which is where he'll likely have to play the bulk of his minutes on a roster with Lopez and Ivica Zubac.
Still, he's a big who can play pick-and-pop or finish lobs from Harden. And OKC may be setting a trend by starting two bigs in Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein. Having Collins gives the Clippers a better chance to counter jumbo frontcourts.
Losers (for Now): Kevin Love and Kyle Anderson
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In the immediate aftermath of the deal, it's pretty easy to slide Love and Anderson to the losers' side of the ledger.
They're going from the weaker conference, where they were playing in a glamour market, to one of the most obvious tank jobs in the league.
They can smile, put their "veteran mentor" hats on and be good professionals in Utah, but there aren't a lot of veterans who are dying to play for teams on track to win around 20 games.
Of course, neither will be remembered as long-term additions for the Jazz either. Love seems like an obvious buyout candidate. And depending on how well Anderson plays over the first few months of the season, he might have a hint of trade value left ahead of February's deadline.
There's a chance both could be on contenders by the spring.
Winner: John Collins
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Collins' situation is sort of the opposite of Love and Anderson's. He's going from the rebuilding Jazz to a bona fide title contender. And he might not even have to think about accepting a much smaller role (or statistical output).
Utah had already been prioritizing youth over winning in recent years, and that meant Collins played a bit less and took slightly fewer shots than he otherwise may have.
With the Clippers, even if he's only playing 25-30 minutes per game, he's likely to get tons of open looks (both at the rim and from three) generated by Harden. The sheer gravity generated by Kawhi's drives will make Collins' life easier too.
And just the mere fact that he's entering his prime (Collins will turn 28 in September) right around the same time he's going to a contender (or at least fringe contender) feels like a pretty big win.
Winner: Jazz
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The Jazz are clearly in the middle of a full-scale teardown.
The start came three years ago, when they traded Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell. They slowly funneled most of their other veterans around the league for a couple of seasons after that. And this summer, they've now waived Jordan Clarkson, salary-dumped Collin Sexton and traded Collins.
If Jusuf Nurkić (who came over in the Sexton deal) and Lauri Markkanen are both still in Utah uniforms in March, it would be at least a mild surprise.
So, with the league being well aware of what Utah is doing, getting an asset for Collins (the second-rounder) moves the needle a bit. And that's especially true when you consider that Collins was a salary dump when the Jazz picked him up.
But the potential for this trade doesn't end there.
Utah isn't likely to get anything for Love, given his age and recent performance (although he did manage an above-average box plus/minus in his limited 2024-25 minutes), but don't close the door on another Anderson deal.
The multipositional playmaker turns 32 in September, but he's 6'9", has the kind of game that should age well and is one of the best, headiest defenders in the league.
At some point in this coming season, a contending team could very well talk itself into Anderson being the kind of depth piece that could put it over the top in a title pursuit and surrender a real asset to the Jazz to get him.
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