Update (1:44 ET): It has now been reported that the Clippers will be sending Baron Davis and a first-round pick to the Cavaliers for Mo Williams & Jamario Moon. Stay Tuned.
It was reported late Wednesday night that the Clippers have traded point guard Baron Davis to the Cavaliers for point guard Mo Williams.
It is a virtual swap of point guards for the two teams, both of which are two of the worst teams in the NBA.
The deal comes unexpectedly as neither name had appeared in trade talks.
Desperate for a change, the Clippers perhaps got the better end of the trade, despite it being a one-for-one swap.
The Clips will receive Mo Williams, who is still a young player and could form a solid tandem with rookie Blake Griffin.
Williams, drafted by the Jazz in 2003, was teammates with current Heat forward LeBron James for the last couple of seasons before James made his announcement last summer that he would leave his hometown team.
With the team in utter turmoil, Williams, along with the rest team struggled coming out of the gate. During this season, they also set the NBA-record for most consecutive losses (26).
The LeBron-less Cavaliers could be considered the worst team in the league, so there's no doubt that a shake-up of the locker room needed to happen. That's where Mo Williams came in.
Despite being a fan-favorite in Ohio, Williams was dealt and will now tote a Clippers uniform.
This move benefits the Clippers, who seemingly have gotten better and better as the season has progressed. Now pairing Williams with Griffin, the Clips are hoping that they can become a consistent playoff team.
The moves may not be done yet for the Clippers, as they have discussed buying out guard Rasual Butler and have thrown Craig Smith's and Chris Kaman's names into trade discussions.
There's not much time left in the deadline, so we'll see what happens.
For the Cavaliers, they will receive veteran point guard Baron Davis.
The move is somewhat puzzling for the Cavaliers, as they give up a younger player, even though they are in a rebuilding stage.
Clinching a playoff berth is out of the picture right now, so it's hard to understand what was going on through owner Dan Gilbert's head.
There isn't much discrepancy in the trade, as the statistics are pretty much the same.
Davis, in the middle of one of the worst seasons in his career is currently averaging 12.8 points, seven assists and 2.8 rebounds per game. Williams is averaging 13.3 points, 7.1 assists, and 2.7 rebounds per game.
As you can see, Williams barely gets the nod.
Cleveland has been in panic-mode since they lost LeBron James to the "decision" last summer and have shown that they are no contender without him.
Player-wise, I'm not sure that the deal works in their favor. However, they needed to make some moves to create some type of urgency within the organization. They need to instill that no player is safe.
In the end, the deal works out better for the Clippers, in my opinion.
And I still believe that both of these teams will be active leading up to the end of the trade deadline. With not much time left, we will play the waiting game and maybe we'll see another blockbuster.
But for now, we'll go over this trade as more hopefully come through.
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