Clippers Sign Grant Hill

WEDNESDAY, 2:05pm: The Clippers have officially signed Hill, the team announced in a press release. Los Angeles will use its bi-annual exception on Hill, putting his two-year contract in the neighborhood of $4MM.

TUESDAY, 12:21pm: The Clippers will add Hill using either the bi-annual exception or a sign-and-trade, meaning he'll make more than the minimum salary, tweets SI.com's Sam Amick. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports adds that it'll be a two-year contract.

11:40am: The Clippers have reached an agreement to sign Grant Hill, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). John Gambadoro of 620 KTAR Phoenix first tweeted that Hill was headed to the Clippers. Wojnarowski adds (via Twitter) that the two sides are still finalizing the details of the contract, but says Hill has committed to sign with Los Angeles.

It seemed over the weekend that Hill had narrowed his options to the Knicks, Lakers, and Heat. However, Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro met with Hill on Sunday to discuss the possibility of signing with the Clips, and apparently made an impression on the 39-year-old. According to Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld (via Twitter), the Nets had also been in the mix for Hill, but the veteran forward would only have signed in Brooklyn if the team had been able to acquire Dwight Howard.

With their mid-level exception committed to Jamal Crawford, the Clippers could sign Hill using their bi-annual exception or the veteran's minimum. If the Suns were willing to work out a sign-and-trade, that would be another option, though L.A. would likely want to include Ryan Gomes and his $4MM in such a deal.

Hill will turn 40 before the 2012/13 regular season gets underway, and set career-lows in a number of statistical categories in 2011/12. However, he still provided modest production, averaging 10.2 PPG and 12.3 PER in 49 games for the Suns. In Los Angeles, he'll presumably be relied upon for fewer than the 28.1 minutes per game he played in Phoenix last year.

—–

View Comments (3)