The Portland Trail Blazers have traded forwards Norman Powell and Robert Covington to the Los Angeles Clippers for guard Eric Bledsoe, forward Justise Winslow, and guard Keon Johnson. The Blazers will also receive a second-round pick and a trade exception in the deal.
The latter tells you all you need to know about the primary motivation behind this trade. The Blazers are sending out $28.5 million in salary and taking in $24.6 million. As long as they don’t make further moves to increase their salary burden, that savings will put them under the luxury tax threshold for the season.