1:05pm: The Clippers have signed Williams to a new three-year contract, a source tells Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter links). According to Turner, as expected, the second and third years of the deal won’t be guaranteed.
9:03am: The Clippers are set to elevate swingman C.J. Williams from his two-way contract to a spot on the 15-man NBA roster, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). According to Charania, the two sides are finalizing a three-year agreement.
Williams, 28, went undrafted out of North Carolina State back in 2012, and had played for a handful of international and G League teams since then. He made his NBA debut for the Clippers earlier this season and has now appeared in 36 games (16 starts) on his two-way deal, averaging 5.3 PPG on .446/.310/.813 shooting.
As we noted on Friday, the Clippers are one of seven NBA teams that still have an open roster spot available, so the club won’t have to cut anyone to make room for Williams. It makes sense that L.A. is opting to fill that roster opening with one of its two-way players — both Williams and guard Tyrone Wallace made strong cases to earn a standard NBA contract heading into the offseason.
As for the details of Williams’ new contract, Charania doesn’t offer many specifics, but the fact that it covers three years (2017/18, plus two more seasons) suggests that the Clips are using their mid-level exception to finalize the signing. The minimum salary exception would only allow for a two-year deal.
The Clips previously used their MLE to sign Milos Teodosic, Jawun Evans, and Sindarius Thornwell, leaving about $775K remaining on it. A portion of that money figures to be used to sign Williams, with minimum salaries likely to follow for 2018/19 and 2019/20 — those salaries almost certainly won’t be fully guaranteed.