The Clippers got size and youth when they acquired John Collins from the Utah Jazz on Monday, but the team lost quality shooting and veteran leadership when it sent Norman Powell to the Miami Heat as part of a three-team, four-player trade.
The Clippers also will send a 2027 second-round pick to the Jazz and the Heat will send Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love to the Jazz as part of the deal for L.A. to get Collins.
“Sad to trade Norm and extremely excited to add John,” Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said during a videoconference with reporters. “Norm has been a huge part of our basketball team for the past three-and-a-half years. … But this was an opportunity for us to address a different position, different skill set where we felt we needed reinforcement. John is someone we targeted the past couple of years and we feel really, really fortunate that we were able to obtain him at this time.”
The Clippers lacked size last season, but the 6-foot-9, 226-pound Collins fills that void.
The Clippers are one of the older teams in the NBA, but the 27-year-old Collins gives them an infusion of youth and talent.
Though Collins played just 40 games last season for the Jazz (31 starts), he averaged 19.0 points and 8.2 rebounds. Collins also improved his outside shooting, hitting a career-best 39.9% of his three-pointers last season.
Collins dealt with back and ankle injuries. He also appeared to be held out of games last season because the Jazz were trying to improve their position in the lottery standings.
During his eight-year career, Collins has averaged 16.0 points, 8.1 rebounds and shot 54.6% from the field, 36.3% from three-point range and 79.2% from the free-throw line, including a career-best 84.8% last season.
Collins opted into his player option that pays him $26.5 million next season, his last year of that deal.
Collins will allow the Clippers to move Kawhi Leonard from power forward to his regular position at small forward and reduce how often guard James Harden — who signed a two-year, $81.5-million deal — is asked to guard bigger players.
“One of our goals, in terms of how can we get this team better? Well, one of the things is that we wanted to add size to our frontcourt,” Frank said. “So, John, along with Brook [Lopez,] we’ve accomplished that goal. Both those guys have positional size and they have complementary skill sets. John is rolling and finishing and Brook’s ability to stretch. So, I think when you look what [Ivica] Zubac brings, Brook, John and the flexibility it gives [coach Tyronn Lue,] we can play John at four and move Kawhi back to three. We can do small-ball with John at five. We can play John and Brook together.
“… Again, very, very grateful and thankful for what Norm did for the organization. We don’t take that lightly and we’re very appreciative, and yet super excited to add someone like John, who we’ve targeted for the last couple of years.”
Powell was one of the Clippers top performers last season, averaging a career-high 21.8 points per game, second-best on the team. He shot 48.4% from the field and 41.8% from three-point range. He was in the final year of a contract that was to pay him $20.4 million next season and was seeking an extension.