According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Los Angeles Clippers are set to meet with Derrick Rose today. Rose recently played for the New York Knicks this past season after being traded by the Chicago Bulls. Rose has had interest from the Knicks to stay in New York, but the Knicks eventually chose to move forward with younger players. Plus, New York drafted point guard Frank Ntilikina in this year's NBA Draft.
Backup role would halt deal
The Clippers have been making a flurry of moves since Chris Paul was traded to the Houston Rockets. The Clippers re-signed Blake Griffin to the second highest deal in NBA history.
They just completed a sign-and-trade deal that sent Danilo Gallinari to the Clippers, Paul Millsap to the Nuggets, and Jamal Crawford, Diamond Stone and a future first-round draft pick to the Hawks.
Now, the Clippers want to bring in a former MVP that has had four knee surgeries. Rose is not the same player he once was but showed he can be a durable point guard this past season. He averaged 18.0 points and 4.4 assists on a bad Knicks team.
It seems that Rose would have to be the backup, or at least fight for the starting position if he was with the Clippers. Patrick Beverley was one of the highlights of the Paul trade. Beverley is a much better defender and can handle the ball just fine. If Rose is fine with accepting a backup role, then this deal benefits everybody.
Rose gets to play for a relevant team and the Clippers can continue to push for a playoff spot.
Javale Mcgee gets meeting as well
According to Wojnarowski, McGee will have a meeting with the Clippers as well. McGee spent this last season winning a championship with the Golden State Warriors. McGee played a reserve role but started in some games down the stretch.
He averaged 6.2 points and 3.3 rebounds. McGee would surely get playing time if he was with the Clippers. He would be a backup for Griffin and DeAndre Jordan since he can play both positions.
Reshaped roster
The Clippers are doing their best to make up for losing Paul, Crawford, and JJ Redick. As of now, the Clippers will have eight new players joining their roster.
Along with Beverley and Gallinari, the Clippers acquired Sam Dekker, Montrezl Harrell, Kyle Wiltjer, Darrun Hilliard, DeAndre Liggins and Lou Williams. The Clippers are still looking to add pieces. It is unknown if the team can add Rose and McGee but this will certainly be a new Clippers team then we have seen in the past.
