12:11pm: Andy Miller, the agent for Blatche, disputes the report, telling Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times that his client has no workout scheduled with the Clippers (Twitter link).
8:45am: The Clippers are set to work out free agent centers this week, with Andray Blatche, Andrew Bynum, Greg Oden and Emeka Okafor among those on the docket as the team seeks depth, reports Jorge Sedano of ESPN Radio (Twitter link). The inclusion of Bynum’s name is surprising, since last month he was giving serious thought to sitting out the season. There have been widespread questions about Okafor’s health, too, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe wrote at the bottom of one of his pieces from last month.
Blatche was the most productive of the quartet last season, averaging 11.2 points and 5.3 rebounds in 22.2 minutes per game for the Nets. Bynum appeared in only 26 games because of his persistent knee trouble, while Oden, mostly healthy over the course of a full season for the first time in his career, appeared in only 23 contests as a deep reserve for a Finals-bound Heat team. Okafor missed the entire season because of a herniated disk in his neck.
The hard-capped Clippers can only offer the minimum to anyone they sign. Oden, who has six years of official experience, is the only one among the four named in Sedano’s report who could receive a multiyear contract from the team. One-year deals for the minimum salary only count against a team’s cap for the two-year veteran’s minimum, so that would allow the team to ink deals with Blatche, Bynum and Okafor, each of whom has a minimum salary that exceeds the roughly $1.149MM that the Clippers have left under their hard cap. The team has only 12 players on its roster, so it will have to add another player eventually to reach the 13-man regular season minimum.
Would be kind of surprised if Blatche couldn’t find money above the minimum.