Los Angeles Clippers Receive: G Markelle Fultz
Orlando Magic Receive: G Eric Bledsoe
It is a straight one-for-one swap between the teams, as Eric Bledsoe will be traded for the third time, landing in Orlando. Markelle Fultz will be coming to Los Angeles.
There are a few important pieces of context that need to be taken into consideration when evaluating a potential swap that features Fultz and Bledsoe.
For starters, Fultz entered the NBA with high expectations being a No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft but hasn’t been able to live up to them after his bizarre shoulder injury. Regardless, he’s still only 23-years-old and showed some flashes before suffering a season-ending ACL injury.
Fultz is entering the start of a three-year, $50 million contract extension with a Magic team that just drafted Jalen Suggs and already has Cole Anthony, too. Looking to shed that salary appears to be the best-case scenario for Orlando.
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The Clippers looked to bring in Eric Bledsoe by moving on from Patrick Beverley earlier in the offseason. However, Bledsoe is set to earn $17.5 million this season, and only $3.9 million of his salary during the final year of his contract (2022-23) is guaranteed.
There is a similar final-year partial guarantee for Markelle Fultz’s contract, too. He is guaranteed just $2 million in 2023-24, which would help the Clippers to have an ‘out’ on his deal if the risk they took did not end up panning out as intended.
How does this swap impact both teams? Let’s take a look, starting with the Los Angeles Clippers.
