The Clippers and veteran forward Nicolas Batum have agreed to terms on a new two-year deal after he opted out of his previous contract on Sunday, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
According to Charania, the deal will be worth $11.5MM and will feature a second-year team option as well as a trade kicker.
Batum, 36, doesn’t score much anymore, having averaged just 4.0 points in 17.5 minutes per game across 78 appearances for the Clippers in 2024/25. However, the 6’8″ forward contributes in many other ways. He’s a versatile defender who can knock down three-pointers (43.3% this past season) and is a trusted locker-room leader in Los Angeles, where he has spent most of the past five seasons.
Batum said during an interview in May that next season will likely be he last, but this contract leaves the door open to the possibility of him extending his career an additional year beyond 2025/26.
The Clippers will be using their Non-Bird rights to re-sign Batum, which allows for a 20% raise above last season’s salary. Assuming the club goes all the way up to the Non-Bird max, that would result in a $5,601,600 salary for 2025/26 and a $5,881,680 team option for ’26/27.
The Clippers now have a projected team salary of $179MM for next season, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). That means they’ll have the ability to use most or all of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($14.1MM) while staying below the first tax apron ($195.9MM).