The Los Angeles Clippers may look at a Jamal Crawford trade this offseason and teams like the NY Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat could be interested in making moves and players like Jose Calderon, Mario Chalmers, Chris Andersen, Anderson Varejao and Josh McRoberts could be target to move if a deal happens.
Chalmers has been a trade target for most of the summer, as both the Cavaliers and Heat were mentioned in connection with the guard in July. Not much came from those reports, but now that the summer has moved along and the Clippers have added more players, Crawford could be on his way out. According to Frank Isola of the NY Daily News, the Knicks have shown some interest in Crawford and the Cavaliers are also a potential landing spot for the guard.
The Clippers have added Josh Smith, Pablo Prigioni, Wesley Johnson and Paul Pierce this summer and that could push Crawford from his role as the main bench scorer. That doesn't even mentioned the trade for Lance Stephenson and the fact that DeAndre Jordan, JJ Redick, Blake Griffin and Chris Paul need their shots as well. Crawford is in the last year of his deal and after averaging over 15 points per game last season, he has proven that he can still be a consistent scorer.
Crawford reportedly would be open to playing for the Cavaliers if traded and the Cavs could look at making a deal if they do not sign back JR Smith, although they are expected to do that. The Cavaliers want more bench scoring and they have a trade exception to use after the deal with Brendan Haywood. Earlier in the summer there were reports about a Haywood for Crawford deal, but that did not come close to happening. Crawford is also a target for the Knicks and could be an option for the Heat depending on who they try and trade.
According to Pro Basketball Talk, Jose Calderon could be a target for the Clippers and Timberwolves for the Knicks and the team could explore deals for the point guard. Crawford could be the main target, but the team is also reportedly interested in Ricky Rubio. If Calderon is traded to the Wolves, Rubio could come over in that deal and it comes after the Wolves signed Andre Miller and added Tyus Jones to the mix with Rubio and Zach LaVine on the roster. The Wolves love Rubio, but he has not been able to stay healthy on a consistent basis.
The Miami Heat have been looking to trade Mario Chalmers and Chris Andersen this offseason and the team could use that to try and get Crawford. The team already added Gerald Green in free agency, but if Andersen or Chalmers or traded, the team would have room for Crawford. Ira Winderman at the Sun Sentinel reports that Josh McRoberts also could be an option to move if the team looks at trading for Crawford with the Clippers.
Check here for more on the possibility of Crawford getting traded and for more on interest from Cleveland and Miami.
