8:23pm: The trade is official, the Clippers announced (via Twitter).
7:59 pm: The Clippers will send Petrusev and cash to the Kings in exchange for the draft rights to Luka Mitrovic, a source tells Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). Mitrovic, a 30-year-old forward currently playing in Serbia, was the final pick in the 2015 draft.
3:02pm: The Clippers and Kings have agreed to a trade that will send big man Filip Petrusev and cash to Sacramento, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Petrusev was dealt to Los Angeles along with James Harden and P.J. Tucker in the blockbuster trade that was officially completed on Wednesday. However, Law Murray of The Athletic reported at the time of the agreement that the Serbian rookie wasn’t in the Clippers’ plans and wasn’t expected to remain on the roster.
By trading Petrusev to Sacramento, the Clippers will open up a second roster spot on their 15-man squad. Under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, a team can only carry fewer than 14 players on standard contracts for up to 14 days at a time and 28 total days during a season, so Los Angeles will have to replace Petrusev on its roster sooner rather than later.
Even after the Clippers add a 14th man, I’d expect them to keep their 15th roster spot open for the time being in order to maintain some flexibility and to avoid increasing their projected luxury tax bill.
The Kings, meanwhile, entered the season with an open roster spot of their own and will now use it to take a look at Petrusev, a draft-and-stash prospect who was selected 50th overall in 2021 and joined the 76ers two years later.
The 6’11” forward/center, who played college ball at Gonzaga, won a EuroLeague championship with Anadolu Efes in 2022, earned a Serbian League title with Crvena Zvezda in 2023, and was part of the Serbian national team that finished second at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
Assuming the terms of his contract aren’t being adjusted as part of the trade, Petrusev’s salary is currently only partially guaranteed for $559,782 (50% of his full salary), so the Kings could waive him at some point with no real financial penalty if they want to reopen that 15th roster spot. His full cap hit is $1,119,563.
It’s unclear what the Kings are sending the Clippers in the trade, but based on the structure of the deal and how it’s been reported, I expect it to be either a heavily protected second-round pick or the draft rights to a player who will likely never sign an NBA contract.
SAC has a few stashes to choose from. My guess based on age and likelihood of coming would be Alex Oriakhi.
Good one. Draft year was sometime in the vicinity of 2013?
I think the Kings already renounced to the rights to Dejan Bodiroga.
$1.1 is the minimum amount to trade in a 3-team trade, correct? Minimum is more like $110,000 I believe.
Good call, thanks.
The Clippers should sign Danny Green with that 14th roster spot to make up for the $300k the Sixers screwed him out of when they cut him to make this trade work.
They might…but then again they could have just included him in the trade if they really wanted to lol
Or they could sign one of the many players better than the corpse of Danny Green.
They just traded 4 forwards for two and now there’s only one. They need a power forward, a Homecoming for Griffin would be nice
I don’t understand the move. They already have 3 centers. He is already kind of a project.
Petrusev will be back in the Euroleague soon.
No I disagree
They are basically getting some cash for helping the Clippers to avoid a luxury tax multiplier. If they would just waive him, they would earn money, but I guess they will only do this when another opportunity arises.
Yah but McGee is almost 36 and Len is over 30 as well. Both are only on 1 year deals, so it’s good to have a young big guy to develop. Especially after Monte’s bad idea to let Queta go for basically nothing.
This is a great deal for Sacramento. This kid can play. He has great hands/footwork/iq like most Serb bigs & he specifically reminds me a lot of Vlade. Dominant at Gonzaga 3yrs ago & now much readier for NBA physicality, Petrusev is gonna be a perfect fit for the Kings offense… link to m.youtube.com
Sankara *salute*
Agreed.
I so knew in summer leauge he would wind up on the Kings. They have a huge Serbian pipeline connection going and Venzekov has a friend from the region to hang out with now.
I so knew.
Both former Sixers stash picks
As a Sixers fan, have always been curious @guys like Mitrovic? May have had intentions of testing the waters at one time, but they’ve long since evaporated.
So does his agent txt him and say btw the so and so’s now own your rights? Understand the whole process, it’s just the idea that he’s “been on” a 1/2 dozen teams in his NBA “career”….kinda funny.