there reasoning:
The Los Angeles Clippers are a mess right now, and honestly, there might be one clear way out of it: trading Darius Garland. Sean Deveney of Heavy Sports reported that the team could eventually put him on the market as they try to claw back as many first-round picks as they can, after the Kawhi Leonard punishment wiped out their own firsts from 2029 to 2033.
That doesn't mean he's being shopped around the league this week. But you don't need to reach too far to see the logic. Garland is 26, he's owed $87.1 million over the next two years, and he's easily the best trade chip on a roster that desperately needs draft capital. Losing games isn't even going to help the Clippers for most of the next decade since those picks are gone now, so if they want to rebuild, they basically have to do it by acquiring other teams' draft picks instead of their own.
The Atlanta Hawks are the team I keep coming back to. They already have a legit defensive core with Dyson Daniels, Luguentz Dort, Jalen Johnson, and Onyeka Okongwu, but they're still missing that All-Star point guard if they want to actually compete in the East.
The Mock Trade
Atlanta Hawks Receive: Darius Garland
Los Angeles Clippers Receive: CJ McCollum, Corey Kispert, Ryan Nembhard, 2027 first-round pick (MIL or NOP, top-four protected), 2030 first-round pick
Garland is set to make $42.2 million this year, and the three guys coming back the other way combine for around $37.1 million. He's got $44.9 million left on his deal for 2027-28 before hitting free agency, CJ McCollum's new $21.0 million contract runs out next summer, Corey Kispert is at $14.0 million this season, and Ryan Nembhard is making next to nothing at $2.2 million.
Those picks aren't throwaways, either. Atlanta owns the worse of Milwaukee's and New Orleans' 2027 firsts if it lands outside the top four, plus their own 2030 first. Giving up both stings, but that's probably close to what it costs to land a 26-year-old, two-time All-Star point guard.
Why The Clippers Should Do It
If I'm the Clippers, I'm saying yes to this pretty fast, and it helps to remember what they actually gave up to get Garland in the first place. They sent 36-year-old James Harden to Cleveland at the deadline last season and got Garland plus a future second-round pick. Harden was still cooking at the time (25.4 points, 8.1 assists), but his deal was basically a one-year rental with a player option looming. Garland, meanwhile, is a decade younger and locked in through 2027-28.
So now picture flipping that same Garland into two first-rounders, McCollum, Kispert, and Nembhard just seven months later. That's the Clippers turning an aging Harden into a stash of draft picks and three extra bodies without giving up a single one of their own firsts. Given everything that happened with the Leonard mess, I'm not sure how much better a return they could realistically ask for.
To be clear, this isn't a "get rid of him" trade, because Garland's really good. He only played 19 games after the trade because injuries got him again, but he still put up 19.9 points and 6.4 assists on 47.1/43.8/86.0 shooting splits. The year before that, he averaged 20.6 points and 6.7 assists, shot 40.1% from three, and made his second All-Star team.
But the Clippers are in such a strange spot right now that basically nobody should be off-limits. The one exception is Keaton Wagler, the No. 5 pick from this year's draft, who's 19, and the guy I'd protect no matter what, because he could be the face of this team going forward. Everybody else should at least be a conversation if the return includes picks or young talent.
Losing McCollum next year is totally fine for the Clippers: he's 34, he's not part of the long-term plan, and he just signed a one-year, $21.0 million deal after averaging 18.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 3.9 assists last season. He becomes a steady scorer this year while Wagler grows into his role, and the Clippers still need to look somewhat competitive since tanking doesn't actually do anything for them anymore.
Kispert adds shooting, which this roster desperately needs. He shot 36.7% from three last year (38.0% for his career) on 9.2 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game. And his money isn't scary at all with $14.0 million this season, $13.1 million next, then a $13.1 million team option in 2028-29.
Nembhard's the one guy in this deal who could actually stick around for the next good Clippers team. Undrafted in 2025, he still put up 6.6 points and 5.3 assists as a rookie in Dallas before Atlanta scooped him up in the three-team Dort trade this summer. He's only 23, makes just $2.2 million, and would finally get a real shot at backup point guard minutes behind Wagler instead of buried on a stacked guard depth chart.
None of that package is worth more than Garland on its own, obviously, but that's kind of beside the point for the Clippers at this stage. After losing five first-round picks, they just need to start stacking them back up. Turning Garland into two of them is about as good a starting point as they're going to find.
Why Atlanta Should Go All In
This one's tougher for the Hawks, since two first-rounders is a real price tag. But I think they're finally at the point in their build where it's worth being aggressive. They went 46-36 last year, finished sixth in the East, ran the No. 9 defense in the league (113.7 rating), then got knocked out 4-2 by the eventual champion Knicks in the first round. Not a bad season by any stretch, and the roster's only gotten deeper since Dort arrived this summer.
The defensive fit around Garland is almost too easy to picture. Daniels is already elite on the ball, Dort's been making guards miserable for years, Johnson has the size to switch onto multiple positions, and Okongwu is the ideal mobile rim protector. Garland's size (6-foot-1) will always be a slight liability on that end, but Atlanta has more ways to mask that than most teams do.
McCollum, for what it's worth, actually held up well against New York: 19.2 points a game in that six-game series on 46.5% shooting, with a 32-point outburst in one win and 23 in another. The problem was consistency, especially from three (30.3% for the series), plus only 2.0 assists against 3.5 turnovers a night.
Garland gives Atlanta similar scoring punch but with real point guard play attached, and he's 26, not 34. There's a bit of a Trae Young flavor to what he'd bring, honestly, but I'd argue he fits even better, since he needs the ball a lot less and has turned into a much sharper catch-and-shoot threat than Young ever was, which is part of why the Hawks already handed the keys over to Jalen Johnson.
There's also just more shooting and defense around Garland in Atlanta than Young ever had during his run there, which should let him play his game more naturally. He shot 43.8% from three after landing with the Clippers, so Daniels can take on more secondary playmaking, Johnson can grab-and-go in transition, and Okongwu's got enough range now to space the floor a bit himself. Atlanta would still have Dort, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Aaron Wiggins, Buddy Hield, and Kingston Flemings floating around the rotation without gutting the whole roster for one player.
Garland's only 26, already a two-time All-Star, and he's averaged 20.6 points and 7.3 assists for his career. He checks a clear box for a Hawks team that already has real defensive infrastructure in place. This isn't paying two firsts for an aging star hoping for one last run, it's buying into a prime point guard who could realistically be there for Atlanta's next four or five seasons if things click.
The Clippers need picks more than they need Garland at this point, and the Hawks need another All-Star-level piece to slot in next to a roster that's already pretty solid. It's a deal that makes a ton of sense on both sides, even if it doesn't instantly turn Atlanta into a title favorite.
Also remember the Hawks got Ryan Nembhard from the Luguentz Dort trade so no the Mavericks aren't getting nothing. They are simply here so I can have Nembhard in it.
Link to article: https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nba-trade-idea-darius-garland-143856822.html
Do they have a point or is this a bad idea?