Another summer of curious trades continues as we move through the first weeks of July. This time, it’s the Utah Jazz, Los Angeles Clippers and Miami Heat teaming up to provide a head-scratcher. The Jazz are trading John Collins to the Clippers, with Los Angeles sending Norman Powell to the Heat, and Miami dealing Kevin Love and Kyle Anderson to Utah, which also receives a 2027 second-round pick.
League sources confirmed the deal to The Athletic.
ESPN first reported the trade.
Two of the involved teams makes sense, but I’m a little confused by a third squad being involved. So, let’s bust out the red pen and throw some grades down to see if we can figure it out together:
Miami Heat receive Norman Powell
If the Heat are getting the Powell we saw for the Clippers last season, this is a massive addition. That version of Powell was a borderline All-Star, and I thought he should have received the nod for the Clippers over James Harden. He was a tremendous scorer, averaging a career-best 21.8 points on 48.4/41.8/80.4 shooting splits. That’s with Powell tailing off in the second half of the season as he dealt with multiple injuries, including his hamstring.
Prior to the All-Star break, Powell was even more destructive with his scoring. Through his first 45 games, he averaged 24.2 points with 49.6/42.8/81.9 splits. The 32-year-old Powell took his scoring to new heights, so injecting anything close to that production into Miami’s 21st-ranked offense would be huge. Some of Miami’s struggles on offense were due to the Jimmy Butler debacle that dominated the first half of the season. It improved a little bit to 19th once he was officially done playing for the team prior to the trade, but the Heat still struggled to generate good, easy buckets.
That’s Powell’s sweet spot.
He’s so efficient scoring off the catch or attacking defenders on the move. You can isolate him, run him off screens, use him with dribble hand-off action and lean on him as a floor-spacing threat. The Heat can trust him to alleviate the scoring load for Tyler Herro and give Bam Adebayo a weapon to use in their two-man game. Powell just has to stay healthy, which is another key component. He’s missed at least 22 games in three of the last four seasons. Powell is also headed into a contract season, so it’s mutually beneficial for both parties that he replicates the season he just had for the Clippers.
Grade: A-
Los Angeles Clippers receive John Collins
Admittedly, this is the part of the trade I’m having a little trouble with understanding. I loved the dynamic the Clippers had with Powell and felt they really needed what he gave them throughout the season. With most teams, you can’t assume injuries and should approach most seasons expecting everybody to be healthy. I don’t think you can do that with the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard. You have to bake in the idea of him missing many games. I have even offered up the theory he should consistently have his season begin in early January to keep him healthy for the playoffs, which sort of worked last season.
Losing Powell’s production will be a blow to the Clippers’ attack. Will acquiring Collins make up for that loss? It’s possible! Collins is a solid scorer at the 4, and he’s been a good enough 3-point shooter during his career to believe he can stretch the floor some. Adding him to the mix gives the Clippers a lob threat when he’s running a pick-and-roll with Harden or Leonard. The offense they can execute with Collins could definitely add certain dynamics Powell’s presence didn’t provide.
With that being said, other questions do remain.
Does this deal clog up things at the rim with Ivica Zubac already there? Does this team need to be bigger after bringing in Brook Lopez as a backup big man? Should the Clippers be more traditional with their power forward position or continue Ty Lue’s approach of swapping in rangy wings for defensive versatility? Collins is not a defensive player, so having him and Harden on the floor together could be difficult.
Like Powell, Collins is on an expiring deal, so this deal isn’t necessarily a long-term play. The 27-year-old is a one-year rental that they can assess. The Clippers do get younger and more athletic, but I think I’d rather get volume scoring from a guard than at power forward. Unless Bogdan Bogdanović can completely replace Powell’s production, I think this is a risky and potentially poor swap by the Clippers.
Grade: C+
Utah Jazz receive Kyle Anderson, Kevin Love and a 2027 second-round pick
It cost the Jazz a second-round pick and Rudy Gay to acquire Collins two years ago. In this deal, they receive a future second-round pick, Love and Anderson to move him. I guess it’s a wash after having Collins for a couple of seasons. Given Utah’s goals, this trade makes sense. The Jazz can talk the good talk about competing because that helps sell tickets, but this team will be awful and tanking at some point again next season. The latter endeavor didn’t work out for getting Cooper Flagg in 2025, but the Jazz are hoping it works out for the top of the loaded 2026 draft class, which is headlined by BYU star freshman AJ Dybantsa.
I would assume Love is getting bought out and won’t spend time with the Jazz. Being on a rebuilding team at this point in his career doesn’t make sense for either side. I could see them trying to make Anderson part of their rotation and flipping him some time before the trade deadline. He is a valuable role player a lot of teams would like to have. The Jazz could even flip him before the season even starts if they wanted to. They are leaning into the tank, though, and, even though Collins wasn’t going to truly add enough wins to their roster to ruin the losing effort, they shouldn’t take any chances with it.
Grade: C+
(Photo of Norman Powell: Rich Storry / Getty Images)
