The LA Clippers can't help but feel a little remorse after seeing Norman Powell stick it to them in a Miami Heat uniform. Finishing with 21 points on the night, Powell helped lead the Heat on the second night of a back-to-back to a big road victory.
After missing the last three games due to an injury, Powell made his return to the Heat lineup just in time to square off against his former team. The Heat outlasted the Clippers in LA 120-119, with Powell playing an instrumental role for the team.
Powell's former team fell to 3-3 on the season, while the Heat snapped a two-game losing streak, improving to 4-3 as they prepare for another measuring stick game against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday to close out this West Coast road trip.
Clippers should have real regret on their decision to trade Norman Powell
With how Powell has looked so far this season, there's reason to believe that the Clippers could have at least some regret about how they handled the decision to trade him during the summer. Sure, the Clippers may have added John Collins and Bradley Beal thanks to the decision to move off of Powell, but it's hard to completely justify that trade right now.
Almost single-handedly, the impact that Powell has made for the Heat has been much greater than how good Beal and Collins have been for the Clippers to start the season. That could certainly change over the course of the rest of the year, but at least for now, it does look like the Heat won that trade. And pretty easily.
Without Tyler Herro to start this season, it's hard to describe just how important Powell has been to the Heat. In fact, it's not even just the fact that he's been the team's leading scorer through the first handful of games so far this season.
It's much deeper than that. Without Herro, the Heat didn't necessarily have a player they could dump the ball off to when the offense bogs down in the half-court. With Powell on the roster, that all changed.
What has to be even more deflating for the Clippers is the realization that Powell is off to an even better start than last season. He's currently on pace to be slightly more productive and more efficient.
That's expected to change once Herro returns to the Heat's lineup, but it does seem as if the Clippers let a really good player out of their grasp. And the Heat are certainly benefiting from it.