Report: Clippers may be looking to trade up in draft for Luka Doncic
After watching his former team, the Golden State Warriors, win another NBA title, LA Clippers executive Jerry West could be plotting some power moves.
In an appearance on “The Yahoo! Sports NBA Podcast” with Chris Mannix this week, NBA insider Shams Charania revealed that the Clippers may be looking to trade up for European star Luka Doncic in this month’s draft.
“There’s just a lot of fluidity to this draft,” said Charania. “I think that you could see a lot of pick movement. The Clippers have looked to trade up. I think a guy that they have really looked at heavily is Luka Doncic of Real Madrid. I think it’ll be a lot of movement in this draft, potentially.”
The Clippers hold the No. 12 and No. 13 picks in the draft as well as a strong mix of veterans (such as Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, and to a lesser extent, Danilo Gallinari) and young players (Tobias Harris, Sam Dekker, Sindarius Thornwell, etc.) to dangle as potential trade chips.
Doncic, meanwhile, is one of the true blue-chippers in this year’s draft and has even earned No. 1 overall pick buzz. Thus, the Clippers would likely have to pay a mini-fortune to land him, but the assets are certainly there for them.