One of the most coveted trade targets of this NBA off-season is off the market as Eric Bledsoe is heading from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Phoenix Suns in a three team deal that also includes the Milwaukee Bucks and shooting guard J.J. Redick.
Los Angeles Clippers Acquire: SG J.J. Redick and SG Jared Dudley
Phoenix Suns Acquire: PG Eric Bledsoe and SF Caron Butler
Milwaukee Bucks Acquire: 2 second round picks
Why this makes sense for Clippers: With the re-signing of Chris Paul, Eric Bledsoe became expendable and one of the hottest trade commodities on the market. The Clippers needed to add some shooting on the wing which Redick will certainly provide. Dudley is praised as an invaluable glue guy and should easily replace what the team loses in dealing Butler.
I do have two problems with this deal, the sign-and-trade that needed to be done with Redick that will earn him $27 million over the next four years. Nearly eight million a year is a lot to pay for a shooter. Also, L.A. now has five shooting guards in Redick, Dudley, Jamal Crawford, Willie Green, and first round pick Reggie Bullock but no true starting small forward. That has to be the next domino to fall for them, finding a small forward.
Clippers Grade: C+
Why this makes sense for Suns: To ultimately give up Dudley and two second round picks for a potential point guard of the future in Eric Bledsoe is a no-brainer especially since Phoenix is in the midst of a rebuilding effort. Bringing in Bledsoe should lead to the Suns dealing either Goran Dragic or Kendall Marshall since they won’t need all three of them on the roster. Butler helps step in at small forward for the up-coming season but could be used as trade bait once the deadline approaches or at the very least, will open up eight million dollars in cap space next summer.
Suns Grade: A-
Why this makes sense for Bucks: Twitter rumors swirling the past two days had Milwaukee in line to get much more than a pair of second round picks in exchange for a sign-and-trade with Redick but that clearly was not the case. It is a big blow for a Bucks team that needs depth on the wing and might be handcuffed into signing Brandon Jennings to a pricy extension. Getting two second rounders though is better than the other alternative; Redick signing elsewhere via free agency and Milwaukee getting nothing in return for him.
Bucks Grade: D-
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David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Honolulu. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft and the most accurate 2012 NBA Mock Draft on the internet (Yup, repeat champ… #humblebrag.)
You can follow him on Twitter at David_Kmiecik.