NBA Trade: Hornets send Lance Stephenson to Clippers for Matt Barnes
By Josh Hill
The Los Angeles Clippers have agreed to trade Matt Barnes and Spencer Hawes to the Charlotte Hornets for Lance Stephenson in the first major offseason trade.
Ersan Ilyasova, eat our heart out as you’ve been upstaged in the trade name game. A few days after the Milwaukee Bucks shipped their longtime power forward to the Detroit Pistons, freeing up as much as $22 million collectively, the Charlotte Hornets have freed themselves from something else.
Lance Stephenson was a bad player to sign last summer, but the Hornets didn’t listen to anyone and signed him anyways. When it expectedly backfired on them, no one felt sorry enough to take him off their hands and the team came close to straight up cutting him.
That didn’t happen and Charlotte has now found someone to dump Stephenson on.
According to Marc Stein from ESPN.com, the rumored trade talks have escalated to the point where they are now going to become an actual deal. The Clippers will be receiving Lance Stephenson in exchange for Matt Barnes and Spencer Hawes — pending a call for league approval.
Hearing that Clippers and Hornets have agreed in principle on a Lance Stephenson trade and on course to proceed with trade call tonight
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 16, 2015
There’s no way that Adam Silver veto this trade — even though he has a lot of reasons to do so.
Stephenson has been a joke since he made himself into a clown during the Eastern Conference Finals last year. Blowing in LeBron James’ ear made him into an internet meme but ruined his credibility in NBA circles. His lackadaisical play for Charlotte in 2014-15 further discredited him, and he’s now going to try and redeem himself in Los Angeles.
Whether or not he can do that is completely up in the air, but this may be his last chance to prove he’s a superstar and not just another overly talented clown.
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