WEDNESDAY, 8:09am: The Clippers plan to sign Turkoglu for the rest of the season pending the results of his physical, reports Ismail Senol of NTV SPOR in Turkoglu’s native Turkey (Twitter link). The 34-year-old forward has been seeking more than a 10-day contract, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com, so it appears he’s in line to get his wish.
TUESDAY, 1:23pm: Clippers boss Doc Rivers indicated today that he’d like to sign Hedo Turkoglu soon, as Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times notes via Twitter, and the move could come before they begin a road trip on Thursday, tweets Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com. Turkoglu impressed the team Friday during his audition, and shortly thereafter Rivers expressed interest in signing him, though at that point he didn’t give a timetable.
The team is at the 15-man roster limit with a pair of players on 10-day contracts. Their deal with Darius Morris is set to expire Wednesday night, and Maalik Wayns‘ pact expires Friday night. Teams can terminate 10-day deals at any time without owing any extra salary, so neither Morris nor Wayns is necessarily an obstacle to signing Turkoglu.
The Magic waived Turkoglu in advance of the leaguewide contract guarantee date, allowing them to save 50% of his $12MM contract. The 34-year-old is intent on reviving his NBA career with a contender, and while he drew interest from the Hawks and Lakers before the Magic waived him, the Lakers have since cooled on him, and lately there’s been no talk of him heading to Atlanta.