TRADE: Clippers & Jazz Get Trading Festivities Started

With less than a week to go before the NBA's trade deadline, the Los Angeles Clippers and Utah Jazz got the festivities started on Saturday with a four-player deal that is basically a salary dump for the Clips, and a draft pick for the Jazz.

The Los Angeles Clippers are trading PJ Tucker, Mo Bamba, a future second-round pick and cash to the Utah Jazz for Drew Eubanks and Patty Mills, sources tell me and @BobbyMarks42. pic.twitter.com/YOy5kIUd6z
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 1, 2025

PJ Tucker has been waiting to get out of LA since early last season, when he became a forgotten man at the end of the Clippers bench. He was a DNP-CD (did not play, coach's decision) for the entire months of December and January, plus the first half of February. His appearances even after that were few and far between. This season, he hasn't played at all, as the two sides mutually agreed that he would stay away from the team until they were able to find a taker.

Now the 39-year-old gets moved along with center Mo Bamba, who has also been a regular at the end of the Clippers' bench this season, to Utah in return for Drew Eubanks and Patty Mills.

It's possible (likely?), that Tucker will be a buyout candidate from Utah, and Bamba could even face the same fate. Both Eubanks and Mills are also on expiring contracts, so it remains to be seen how the Clippers make use of them.

The Clips got themselves under the luxury tax with this move, but it likely won't be their last trade before the February 6 deadline. They're currently 6th in the Western Conference, trying to hold on to the last guaranteed playoff spot out West.