MAY 8: The Clippers have confirmed that they will have extended Covington on a two-year deal, per a team announcement (Twitter link). Terms of the contract were not disclosed.
MAY 5: The Clippers and forward Robert Covington have reached a two-year, $24MM contract extension agreement, agent Andrew Morrison of CAA Basketball told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Covington was headed to unrestricted free agency this summer, but has opted to stay put rather than testing the market.
Because he was traded less than six months ago, Covington was ineligible to sign an extension longer than two years or worth more than $27.9MM prior to the start of free agency in July. His new deal fits within both of those limits.
Covington was acquired along with Norman Powell from the Trail Blazers in early February in exchange for Eric Bledsoe, Justise Winslow, rookie Keon Johnson and a 2025 second-round pick.
The Clippers were without superstar Kawhi Leonard all season and went a good chunk of the season without their other star, Paul George. Covington could play a key defensive role with the high-scoring duo back in the lineup.
In 23 games with the Clippers, Covington averaged 10.4 PPG on 50% shooting, including 45% on 3-point attempts. He had a career-high 43 points on a franchise-record 11 3-pointers against the Bucks on April 1.
Covington stated after L.A.’s play-in tournament loss to New Orleans that he was excited about the possibility of re-signing with the Clippers.
“The way that we played tonight when we went small, imagine PG and Kawhi in that lineup,” he said. “That’s a lot of versatility … Once them guys come back next year, if I’m here, I’m really looking forward to that.”
Clippers executive Lawrence Frank recently expressed interest in retaining Covington: “RoCo was very, very good for us. I’m excited to hear that he likes it here. We look forward and we’d like to be able to keep him here.”
Covington, 31, has played for Houston, Philadelphia and Minnesota as well as Portland and the Clippers.
Balmer will pay. The Clippers should compete next year! Looking forward to it.
No brainer signing. Great move.
Clippers if healthy have a very solid team. Kawhi and PG the two superstars. Powell Jackson Kennard Covington Morris Zubac etc etc they have a good team and a good coach.
Be interesting to if they make any moves over the offseason
Roco, pg, kawhi. Crazy switch ability on d.
Clippers need a point guard
Covington is below average on D, too streaky a shooter. For clips it all comes down to health of Kawhi and PG, if they are both a 100%, which is a huuuuge IF, maybe they wont blow a 3-1 lead in the playoffs.
PS They are still clippers, so they are not gonna win anything. Clips are the Knicks of the west, just without history
I think you’ll be surprised how valuable Roco is on D. He’s legit. The 3 point shooting was an outlier this year. Good timing for that contract. But likely to regress back to average role playing 3&d guy.
But he’s in LA for the D. They got the scorers. Just needed a reliable veteran on a decent contract to always be threatening enough on offense to keep his man close and good enough on d to make impact plays during crunch time. Very disciplined player.
People think he is good on D, but he is only good as a small ball 5, as he is pretty good for a wing at blocking shots. His on ball defense is definately below average, especially on smaller guards
So, I guess his 1.6 steals a game don’t mean anything then!
He’s good as an on ball defender. Better down low yes, but guards wings effectively as well. Of course he struggles a bit with smaller guards, it’s only a small percentage of bigger wings who don’t.
Good signing, it makes the trade a real success in both adding talent and salary slots. Assuming the LAC re-up Batum as well with their EBRs (and I am assuming they will), and get KL back, they’ll have the deepest and most versatile roster 2-4 in the league. Not sure if the team can ever establish a championship identity as long as Lue is the HC, but with enough talent, it might not matter. They still need to strengthen the point and the post.
Nice great to have a deal down before FA Roco was really great for them on both sides of the ball plugged in right away and was an excellent fit with then happy he is back with the Clips.
Money
money
money
money
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