The Los Angeles Clippers have agreed to trade Baron Davis and the team's unprotected 2011 first-round draft pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Mo Williams and Jamario Moon. Yahoo!'s Marc Spears and FanHouse's Sam Amick were the first to report the deal. Davis is due some $28 million over the next two seasons, while Moon's contract expires this season and Williams, provided he doesn't execute his early termination option at the end of this season, will be due $17 million over the next two seasons.
Baron Davis Traded To The Cavaliers For Mo Williams And Jamario Moon
Only six teams have fewer wins than the Clippers, meaning that the pick sent to the Cavs should be well inside the top 10. Cleveland’s own pick should be no lower than No. 4, as the Cavs will almost assuredly finish with the league’s worst record.
The biggest on-court impact is the break-up of the wonderful Davis-to-Blake Griffin alley-oop combination. Griffin, the incredible rookie forward who made the All-Star team on the coaches' vote and won the 2011 Slam Dunk Contest by leaping over a car, receives many of his most audacious highlight-reel lobs from Davis, who is otherwise reviled for his perceived poor work ethic and lazy game. Williams is not quite as good a passer as Davis; Williams, long LeBron James' sidekick in Cleveland, is more a shooting point.
If Williams does not opt out, the Clippers will only save $11 million over two seasons in the deal; considering how high the 2011 pick could land, L.A. may have some indication that Williams wants to opt out and sign one more long deal. Given the state of collective bargaining in the NBA, that seems unlikely.
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