Ever since the hammer came down on the Los Angeles Clippers in the form of the punishment for their attempt at circumventing the salary cap by arranging an endorsement deal with Aspiration, a punishment which included, among other things, the forfeiture of five first-round picks, the Clippers have needed picks more than ever. 

They were already in the aggressive pursuit of a rebuild before the punishment was doled out and it's only because they had so fiercely accumulated first-round picks in the first place that they had enough to spare for such a massive punishment, so now that they're in the mode of trying to make up for those lost picks, some aggressive deals could be done.

One such deal, a hypothetic proposed by CBS Sports' Sam Quinn, has the Clippers trading Darius Garland, whom they picked up by trading James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers, to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for De'Aaron Fox and a first-round pick, making some progress on filling that void. 

This proposition is a mixed bag. Garland's name has been floated in trade talks before in regard to the idea that the Clippers could flip him rather than anchor him as their franchise star, but Hughes' deal introduces more risk to the Clippers without the draft compensatory benefits that Los Angeles desperately needs at the moment. 

It's a great deal for the Spurs, who would only have to part with one draft picks while trading Fox for a younger player at the same position, a player with a high ceiling who is years away from being extension eligible, where as Fox is due to be extension eligible soon. 

But the same reason that it's a good deal for the Spurs is why it's a bad deal for the Clippers. The major emphasis of their rebuild has been youth, and while Fox at 28-years-old isn't necessarily a detriment, the Clippers trading for and trying to invest in Fox puts the team at risk of sinking their value should he get injured, not to mention they would also have to be the ones that sign him to a potentially expensive extension.

But beyond the issues with Fox's fit within the team, one first-round pick isn't enough to recoup the Clippers' losses in a meaningful way and losing Garland would represent more immediately lost value that anything that could be gained with just one pick. 

Quinn's proposal will be the first of many to come in the wake of the Clippers' punishment, but looking at the price and the risk the Clippers would have to take on, it stands out as one of the first unreasonable proposals.