What the CP3 Trade Means For Jawun Evans

Late Wednesday morning, Adrian Wojnarowski (once again) dropped a bomb that shook the entire NBA. The Clippers’ superstar point guard Chris Paul was traded to the Houston Rockets to be paired with James Harden.

After Chris Paul agreed to opt-in on contract, Clippers are trading All-Star guard to the Houston Rockets, league sources tell @TheVertical

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) June 28, 2017

The Clippers sent their 32 year old floor general in exchange for guards Patrick Beverley and Lou Williams, as well as forward Sam Dekker, Montrezl Harrell and Houston’s 2018 protected first-round pick. Houston and GM Darryl Morey jumped at the chance to pair Harden and Paul in their backcourt, and reports surfaced that CP3 and The Beard are already trying to recruit Paul George to H-Town.

Los Angeles, with the added leadership of Jerry West from the Warriors, is moving on from their Lob City core of Chris Paul, DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin, who is a free agent this summer and could also be headed elsewhere.

The haul of Williams, Beverley, Dekker, Harrell, and a first rounder is a nice start to the post-CP3 era in LA. Oh, and there’s one other guy that is drastically impacted by the trade in particular…

Jawun Evans is stepping into a completely different situation than expected last week, when the Clippers traded cash to the Philadelphia 76ers for the rights to him.

One on hand, Evans will miss out on the potentially incredible mentorship/apprenticeship under CP3, one of the best point guards of his generation. Jawun’s similarities and strengths to CP3 were undeniable, so in that sense, it’s a bit of a bummer that the two won’t be playing on the same roster. Evans could have played behind Paul and grown leaps and bounds as a rookie in a short period of time.

On the other hand…

The starting point guard position on the Los Angeles Clippers is as wide open as Tyron Johnson will be coming across the middle for Mason Rudolph this Fall. It’s not often a playoff team has an opening at point guard, but here are the current point guards on the Clippers’ roster:

• Austin Rivers
• An unsigned Raymond Felton (remember him?)
• Patrick Beverly

Jawun Evans could step right in and compete for big minutes on the Clippers in year ONE. In addition, the cupboard of scoring will not be completely bare for LA — they’re receiving one of the deadlier 3-point shooters in the league in Lou Williams to replace J.J. Redick, as the Thunder found out in the first round of the playoffs.

They’re also adding defensive specialist Beverley to the backcourt to join with Jamal Crawford. Beverley will help mask a lot of the defensive liabilities of other guards on the roster. And for now at least, there’s still this guy to throw lobs to..

Jawun, along with South Carolina rookie Sindarious Thornwell, is stepping onto the roster of a playoff team that has a ton of potential minutes at point guard in the Western Conference. While the loss of CP3 (and potentially Redick and Griffin) mean the Clippers will take a step back, the opportunity is golden for Jawun to get buckets and minutes early in LA for Doc Rivers.

Jerry West and Clips’ owner/billionaire Steve Ballmer have enormous plans for the future of the Clippers- they’re ready to spend big on a new stadium in Inglewood, there’s a number of superstars with an eye on LA (Lebron? Paul George?), and old core is officially broken up. A new era is ready to start for the Clippers and the keys to the car are up for grabs — time for Jawun to get get them.