It’s “widely expected” that Nicolas Batum will re-sign with the Clippers on a two-year deal, league sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
Batum, 33, will be declining his player option for 2022/23, making him an unrestricted free agent, and he certainly won’t lack suitors. According to Haynes’ sources, the Lakers, Bulls, Celtics, Suns and Jazz are all interested in Batum’s services.
However, the Clippers remain the favorite, with Haynes describing the team as being “in the driver’s seat.”
League executives who spoke to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype believe Batum could earn about $10MM per year on his new contract, which is in line with the full mid-level exception for ’22/23 — it projects to be worth $10.35MM, while the taxpayer MLE would come in at $6.39MM.
Barring significant roster moves, none of the five rival teams interested in Batum will have cap space, with only Chicago projected to have the full MLE at its disposal. The Lakers, Celtics, Suns and Jazz all project to be taxpaying teams, as shown by our Offseason Previews, so they’ll be limited to the taxpayer MLE.
The Clippers will be well above the luxury tax line next season, but will hold Batum’s Early Bird rights, giving them the opportunity to make a competitive offer without using their mid-level exception. Los Angeles should be able to offer a starting salary up to approximately $11MM using the Early Bird exception. An Early Bird offer would have to be for at least two years, with no player or team option on that second year (though the second year doesn’t need to be fully guaranteed).
Batum spoke enthusiastically in May about the impact head coach Tyronn Lue has had on him and his desire to remain with the Clippers.
Across two seasons and 126 games with the Clippers, Batum has averaged 8.2 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 2.0 APG, and 1.0 SPG with a .402 3PT% in 26.2 minutes per contest while playing solid, versatile defense. We ranked him 23rd overall last week in our list of 2022’s top 50 free agents.
Batum is not worth 10mil. Some of the contracts that get handed out or rumored to be handed out are just insane
Normally it’s a bit much, but for this team and his role, his value is different when considering the market. He’s not one of the best guys, but he’s interchangeable and reliable. Basically a glue guy
$10M would be an overpay and would almost certainly mean losing Hartenstein, which would be a major blow to the already thin front court groupl
I’m not trying to be witty or mean, but no one cares
Hey Rory — make sure you run all new content by Hoopsjunkie for his approval. He doesn’t care about this article so it should not have appeared.
I’m not talking about the author or the article, I’m saying what everyone else is thinking, no one cares where Nic Batum goes next year.
Well, Im thinking it is too easy to beat the cap with exceptions. Future CBA negotiation note.
Perhaps hoopsjunkie is trying to say the Clips will forget about Batum once the season starts with Kawhi&Paul and other bench talent an hand. And Batum can take minutes from these others. Mann, Powell, Coffey, Kennard, Boston, RoCo…
Or he’s just grumpy that there was an article like this yesterday, and the draft is near.
Or he’s just grumpy.
Nicolas Batum to the Warriors… just some food for thought
LAC are the only ones in the car. Probably agreed to last year, with a wink and a nod.