Blake Griffin Signs Five-Year Deal With Clippers
JULY 18: With the Clippers having taken care of most of their other offseason business, Griffin has finally made his new deal official, according to the NBA’s transactions log.
JUNE 30: Forward Blake Griffin will remain with the Clippers, Shams Charania of The Vertical tweets. After cancelling meetings with the Suns and Nuggets, Griffin has come to agreement with the Clippers on a five-year deal worth the maximum salary, putting the overall value of the deal in the neighborhood of $173MM.
The two parties apparently finalized a five-year max deal during their meeting and Griffin didn’t feel the need to entertain offers from any other ball clubs. As Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports explains, such a deal was likely so long as the Clippers were willing to fully commit to the 28-year-old power forward.
Per Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times, the Clippers pulled out all the stops in their meeting with Griffin and the forward was impressed. The meeting included what Turner describes as a “museum of Blake,” a recap of all the different parts of life that Griffin has experienced with the franchise, essentially.
With Chris Paul now out of the picture, this will mark the first time since his rookie year that Griffin is the focal point of Los Angeles’ offense. This, ESPN’s Jeff Goodman implies, could have increased the likelihood of a deal.
Despite the trade of Paul and the probable departure of J.J. Redick, the Clippers don’t appear to be ready to enter rebuilding mode. The club’s haul in its deal with the Rockets included multiple solid veteran players – Patrick Beverley and Lou Williams – and a pair of youngsters who could play rotation roles in Sam Dekker and Montrezl Harrell. If the club adds another veteran piece or two in free agency, it looks like a roster capable of contending for a playoff spot.
As we’ve laid out in our max salary projection chart, so long as the NBA’s most recent $99MM cap projection holds up, Griffin will make $29.7MM in 2017/18, gradually increasing up to $39.2MM in 2021/22. That’s a huge investment in a player who has battled injury issues for much of his career, but the former first overall pick is one of the game’s most talented bigs when he’s on the court, and the Clippers will keep him through the rest of his prime years.
According to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, the deal will not include a no-trade clause.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Talks Between Hawks, Marreese Speights End
The Hawks had been in discussion with sharp-shooting center Marreese Speights for a week but those talks have ended, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. The veteran is thus back in play on the open market.
Earlier this week we wrote about how the Clippers had hoped to retain both Luc Mbah a Moute and Speights. Unfortunately for them, however, Mbah a Moute has already committed to the Rockets leaving only the 29-year-old Speights available as a returning option for the transitioning franchise.
In 82 games for the Clippers last season, Speights averaged 8.7 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. His ability to spread the floor from the five position could serve any number of contenders well provided they’re able to land him at a reasonable price. From 2013 to 2016, of course, Speights was a valuable addition to the Warriors’ rotation.
Speights hit the market this summer having opted out of a minimum salary player option with the Clippers. Even if the nine-year vet only inks a veteran’s minimum deal worth $2.1MM in 2017/18, however, he’ll match the value of that player option.
Danilo Gallinari's Versatility Part Of New Strategy
- The Clippers‘ move to add Danilo Gallinari could be indicative of the strategy Doc Rivers plans to take in 2017/18. “Losing Chris Paul is tough because he is a great player,” Rivers told Marc Spears of The Undefeated. “But we have a lot of great players on our team that play so many different ways. That is why ‘Gallo’ is so important to us, because our thought was that if you’re not going to run a point guard-dominated offense, then you’ve got to run a movement offense with versatility.“
- After an injury plagued few seasons, Doc Rivers believes the Clippers‘ success was too dependent on the health of Chris Paul, Mark Medina of the Orange County Register writes.
Clippers Waive Kyle Wiltjer
The Clippers have waived Kyle Wiltjer, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). The power forward was traded to Los Angeles in the deal that sent Chris Paul to Houston.
The 24-year-old spent most of his 2016/17 campaign playing for the Rockets’ G-League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. He was able to see some NBA action last year. He played in 14 games for Houston where he scored a total of 13 points.
Wiltjer played four seasons in the collegiate ranks, spending two seasons at Kentucky before transferring to Gonzaga. He entered the 2016 draft but was not selected.
Clippers Remain Engaged On Several Free Agents
The Clippers have had a busy offseason thus far and the team remains active with at least two players from last season’s roster. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (via Twitter) first noted that Los Angeles has been engaged with Luc Mbah a Moute and Los Angeles Times scribe Brad Turner (via Twitter) added that in addition to Mbah a Moute, the Clippers are interested in retaining Marreese Speights.
While there is interest, Wojnarowski noted that the Clippers’ financial constraints would make a deal difficult and Turner added that no deal is close.
Mbah a Moute, 30, played in 80 games (76 starts) last season while averaging 6.1 PPG and 2.1 RPG. As for Speights, the 29-year-old appeared in all 82 games for Los Angeles and the NBA champion provided his usual solid production with 8.7 PPG and 4.5 RPG.
After losing Chris Paul to the Rockets, the Clippers spent significant money on sharpshooter Danilo Gallinari (three years, $63MM), international superstar Milos Teodosic (two years, $12.3MM), and re-signing Blake Griffin (five years, $173MM). While the team restocked its roster in the sign-and-trade sending Paul to Houston, Speights and Mbah a Moute were two key pieces of last year’s team on both sides of the floor.
Los Angeles has no cap space left as the team used its bi-annual exception last year and used up most of their mid-level exception on Teodosic and Jawun Evans. With approximately $1.5MM left on their MLE, the Clippers’ best chance of retaining Mbah a Moute/Speights would be on deals worth the veteran’s minimum.
Clippers Work Out Tiago Splitter, Martell Webster
- The Clippers worked out a pair of veteran free agent this week, according to Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times, who tweets that the club took a look at Tiago Splitter and Martell Webster. While no deal is imminent, the Clips remain in the market for depth at small forward and center.
Chris Paul Explains Why He Felt He Needed To Move On From Clippers
- In an interview with Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated, Chris Paul explained why he felt it was time to move on from the Clippers, and what drew him to the Rockets.
FA Rumors: Muhammad, Farmar, Mbah a Moute, Allen
The Hawks, Nets, Bucks, Knicks and Magic have all expressed interest in swingman Shabazz Muhammad, according to Marc J. Spears of ESPN.com (Twitter links). The Bulls are on that list as well, tweets Alex Kennedy of Hoops Hype. Muhammad became an unrestricted free agent last week when Minnesota pulled his qualifying offer to create enough cap room to sign Taj Gibson. He has been with the Wolves for all four of his NBA seasons and averaged 9.9 points in 78 games last year.
There’s more tonight on the free agent front:
- Jordan Farmar is hoping to return to the NBA and spoke to Lakers coach Luke Walton today about a possible opportunity, Kennedy relays (Twitter link). The 30-year-old point guard played two games for the Kings in November of last season.
- The Raptors have talked about making a play for former Clippers forward Luc Mbah a Moute, reports Michael Grange of Rogers Sportsnet (Twitter link).
- The Clippers and Timberwolves are both considering Tony Allen, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Coaches Doc Rivers in L.A. and Tom Thibodeau in Minnesota have connections with Allen from their time with the Celtics.
- Veteran point guard Beno Udrih is talking to several teams in Las Vegas, tweets Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. Now 35, Udrih believes he can play for several more years. He got into 39 games with the Pistons last season.
- Former Baylor standout Royce O’Neale is considering several NBA offers, according to Kyler (Twitter link). The 24-year-old forward went undrafted in 2015 and has been playing in Lithuania, but he has an NBA opt-out in his contract through July 20th.
Clippers Sign Jawun Evans
The Clippers have signed rookie guard Jawun Evans, reports Marc J. Spears of ESPN (link via Twitter). Although the team hasn’t yet made a formal announcement, the NBA’s transactions log suggests the move is official.
Evans was drafted by the 76ers with the 39th overall pick in the second round and then traded to the Clippers for cash considerations. In his first three games of the Las Vegas Summer League, the Oklahoma State product has averaged 6.3 PPG, 4.0 APG, and 3.0 RPG on 50% shooting.
Terms of the deal aren’t yet known, but with no cap room available, the Clippers will have to either offer a minimum salary or use part of their mid-level exception to lock up Evans. A minimum salary deal would be limited to two years, while the mid-level could be used to offer more years and a little more money. The club used $6MM of its $8.4MM MLE to sign Milos Teodosic.
For comparison’s sake, Diamond Stone – 2016’s 40th overall pick – received a fully guaranteed, two-year minimum salary contract when he signed with the Clippers last year.
Contract Details For Milos Teodosic
Milos Teodosic‘s new contract with the Clippers is worth $6MM in year one and $6.3MM in year two, with the team using a chunk of its mid-level exception to complete the signing, per Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). As Pincus explains, however, the deal isn’t quite that simple. It also features a 15% trade kicker, a partial guarantee of $2MM in year one, a partial guarantee of $2.1MM in year two, and a second-year player option (Twitter links).
What does that mean in practical terms? Well, Teodosic’s first-year salary will become guaranteed in a matter of days. It only features a partial guarantee initially so that a partial guarantee could be included on the second year as well. That second year will now function as a mutual option of sorts — if Teodosic picks up his option, the Clippers would still have a window to waive him and only be on the hook for a third of his salary ($2.1MM of $6.3MM).