- The Clippers were treated to some good news on Thursday when it was revealed that Blake Griffin could return to action following a concussion and Milos Teodosic after another bout of plantar fascia issues (NBA.com report). Of course, in true Clippers fashion, DeAndre Jordan sprained his ankle hours later and had to leave the match (ESPN report).
- The NBA fined Warriors forward Draymond Green $25K for comments critical of officials on Saturday, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. The Dubs took down the Clippers that night.
- Clippers head coach Doc Rivers thinks that NBA players seem to get injured more often than they used to because they’re not playing basketball enough. Per Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register, Rivers posits that players do more things outside of the sport these days and that consistently reliable Jamal Crawford is one example of a guy that is constantly playing the game outside of his professional commitment.
The Clippers and veteran guard Lou Williams have recently engaged in discussions about a possible extension, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). According to Charania, no deal as imminent, with both sides evaluating their positions.
Williams is one of several veteran players around the NBA who will remain eligible for a contract extension all the way up until June 30. However, his ability to cash in would be somewhat limited if he struck a deal with the Clippers before reaching the open market.
NBA rules limit the raise a player can receive in the first year of an extension to 120% of the player’s previous salary or 120% of the estimated average salary. Because Williams is earning just $7MM this season, his max extension would be worth approximately $42MM over four years — that would be the same deal as the ones signed by Josh Richardson of the Heat and Norman Powell of the Raptors in the fall.
Given Williams’ age (31) and career track record, he may not see an offer better than that on the open market, but his stock is certainly on the rise this season. In 39 games for the Clippers, the former second-round pick is averaging a career-best 22.9 PPG to go along with 4.9 APG and a .450/.412/.907 shooting line. He’s coming off a 50-point explosion against the Warriors on Wednesday night.
Should the Clippers decide to become sellers before next month’s trade deadline, Williams would be a tantalizing target for playoff teams in need of scoring help. Still, the Clips themselves are currently only a game out of the No. 8 seed in the West, so it’s not as if they’re throwing in the towel yet. If L.A. keeps Williams and attempts to push for a postseason spot, it will be interesting to see if the two sides continue to discuss an extension into the spring, or if Lou-Will opts to try his luck in free agency.
For what it’s worth, a trade would likely eliminate the possibility of an extension for Williams, since his new team would be limited to offering about $15MM over two years.
- After hitting a game-winning shot Monday, Clippers guard C.J. Williams has another important occasion coming up, notes Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. Playing on a two-way contract, Williams has used 40 of his 45 allowable days in the NBA. Injuries have forced Williams into the rotation, as he has started 12 games and is averaging nearly 20 minutes per night. To keep him, the Clippers will have to sign him to a regular contract or a 10-day deal by the end of the week. “We’re going to start a ‘GoFundMe Fund’ for C.J.,” coach Doc Rivers joked after the game. “We need some donations.”
Two traded player exceptions created by the Cavaliers in last January’s acquisition of Kyle Korver expired this week, as expected. One of those two trade exceptions was already utilized by the Cavs in the offseason, and the amount left on it made it virtually impossible to use again. However, the other one, worth about $4.84MM, wasn’t used at all.
[RELATED: Outstanding NBA Trade Exceptions]
Despite letting those two trade exceptions expire, the Cavs remain well-stocked with TPEs in the event that they need one to make a deal at next month’s deadline. Most notably, they hold one worth approximately $5.81MM, which will be available until late August.
The following trade exceptions around the NBA will also expire if they’re not used by the February 8 trade deadline:
- Milwaukee Bucks: $5,000,000
- New Orleans Pelicans: $3,517,200
- Chicago Bulls: $1,589,480
- Dallas Mavericks: $1,514,160
- Milwaukee Bucks: $1,151,241 (expires on February 2)
- Cleveland Cavaliers: $980,431
- Dallas Mavericks: $621,362
- Washington Wizards: $425,973
- Portland Trail Blazers: $407,210
- Toronto Raptors: $328,000
While they won’t expire until sometime in the offseason, the Trail Blazers ($12.97MM), Raptors ($11.8MM), and Clippers ($7.27MM) also have sizable trade exceptions worth keeping an eye on. Still, all three of those clubs have potential luxury tax concerns, so they’re unlikely to take on big salaries at the deadline without sending out any money.
For more information on how trade exceptions work, be sure to check out our glossary entry on the subject.
4:14pm: Wilson will sign a 10-day contract with the Lakers, Wojnarowski tweets. He’s expected to sign Wednesday and play Thursday, the tweet adds.
JANUARY 8th, 10:18am: After being waived by the Clippers on Saturday, rookie forward Jamil Wilson may not have to leave town to continue his NBA career. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter), the Lakers are the strong frontrunners to sign Wilson to a 10-day contract, assuming he clears waivers later today.
Wilson, 27, spent time in training camps with the Suns and Mavericks in past years, but had never appeared in a regular season NBA game until 2017/18. The former Marquette standout inked a two-way contract with the Clippers and appeared in 15 games (10 starts) for the club, averaging 7.0 PPG and 2.1 RPG with solid shooting numbers (.469 FG%, .429 3PT%).
Although Wilson was solid for the Clippers, his 45 NBA days were running out, and the club needed some additional backcourt depth. Los Angeles waived Wilson in order to sign Tyrone Wallace to a two-way contract on Saturday, and now the former Clipper could join the NBA’s other L.A. team.
Assuming Wilson goes unclaimed on waivers and joins the Lakers, no corresponding roster move would be required. The Lakers waived veteran center Andrew Bogut on Saturday before his salary became fully guaranteed, so the club has an open roster spot.
The 17-21 Clippers continue to linger on the outskirts of the postseason race in the Western Conference, and the team’s play over the next month may dictate whether or not DeAndre Jordan remains in Los Angeles through the February 8 trade deadline.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the NBA’s trade market as a whole has been moving slowly so far, and the “sluggish pursuit” of Jordan around the league reflects that relative inactivity. The Clippers have yet to receive many serious offers for their standout center, Wojnarowski writes.
“He’s a difference-maker, but I’m not sure anyone thinks he puts you over the top,” one GM said of Jordan, per ESPN.
So far, potential suitors for Jordan have been content to see which other centers may surface on the trade market before the deadline, rather than rushing to offer up trade assets to the Clippers right away. For their part, the Clips aren’t set on trading Jordan at any cost, so if they only receive offers featuring mediocre draft picks and players, they may simply hang onto the 29-year-old and try to extend him in the offseason, according to Wojnarowski.
Wojnarowski adds that teams around the league believe Jordan would be willing to re-sign with a team that trades for him if that club is ready to pony up big money for a long-term extension. However, while a player of Jordan’s caliber might have yielded multiple first-round picks a few years ago, teams are hanging onto those picks tighter than ever these days, with one Eastern Conference GM telling Woj that no club wants to end up “embarrassed like the Nets were” in their infamous trade with Boston.
Besides Jordan, Lou Williams also figures to be a valuable trade chip for the Clippers at the deadline if they do become sellers, Wojnarowski notes. Williams has an affordable expiring contract and is having the best offensive season of his career, with 21.9 PPG and 4.9 APG, plus a .445/.406/.900 shooting line.
There’s no exact timetable for Milos Teodosic‘s return, Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times writes. The seasoned Clippers rookie is making progress after missing Saturday’s contest but remains sidelined with the same injury that plagued him earlier this season.
Teodosic missed 22 games with the plantar fascia injury from October to mid-December but managed to work his way back into a significant role in the Clippers rotation.
On the season, Teodosic has averaged 8.4 points and 5.2 assists in 24.4 minutes per game for the Clippers.
Trading for Clippers center DeAndre Jordan might be the answer to the Cavaliers’ defensive woes, writes Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com. Although they have a 26-13 record, defense has been a problem all season for Cleveland, which is allowing 107.2 points per game and ranks 28th in the league in defensive efficiency. One of the issues is the lack of a shot blocker in the middle, which Jordan would immediately solve.
There were reports last month that the Cavs “quietly explored” the possibility of trading for Jordan, who has spent the past decade with the Clippers. He has a player option worth slightly more than $24MM for next year, and L.A. may want to get some value for him now rather than risk losing him in free agency.
Pluto notes that Tristan Thompson at $16.4MM and Channing Frye at $7.4MM would provide a workable salary match for Jordan, and said sources have told him the Clippers would “strongly consider” the deal if Cleveland includes the Nets’ unprotected first-rounder for this year’s draft. However, the Cavs don’t plan to part with that asset given LeBron James‘ uncertain future. Pluto suggests an offer of Thompson, Frye and the Cavs’ draft pick, which falls at No. 25 in our latest Reverse Standings.
There’s more today out of Cleveland:
- Depth at point guard is the most valuable thing Derrick Rose will provide when he returns from his ankle injury, Pluto adds in the same story. Coach Tyronn Lue would like to reduce the minutes for Dwyane Wade, and Rose may take some of his playing time.
- In just two games since returning from a hip injury, Isaiah Thomas is having a profound effect on the Cavaliers’ offense, notes Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. Thomas came off the bench Tuesday, scoring 17 points in 19 minutes, then added 19 points in 22 minutes in his first start with the team Saturday as Cleveland scored a season-high 131 points in a win at Orlando. “I’m able to push the pace a little more, get the ball out of Bron’s hands and show the defense something different that they haven’t seen all year,” Thomas said. “I think with me being out there it definitely gives us another level that we can reach.”
- After being acquired as part of the Kyrie Irving trade, Jae Crowder is enjoying his surroundings with older, more accomplished teammates in Cleveland, relays Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe [subscription account].
JANUARY 6, 4:15pm: Wallace’s signing is official, according to Real GM’s transactions report.
JANUARY 5, 4:58pm: The Clippers will sign Tyrone Wallace and waive Jamil Wilson, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. Wallace’s deal with the club will be a two-way pact, as was Wilson’s.
Wojnarowski adds that despite his release, Wilson had looked like a serviceable NBA player during his stint with the Clippers; the organization simply needed backcourt help at this point in the season.
With both Austin Rivers and Patrick Beverley on the sidelines, the Clippers have lacked guard depth behind sixth man Lou Williams. Wallace, the final pick of the 2016 NBA draft, will look to bring some of the skills he’s flashed with Los Angeles’ G League affiliate now that he’s been called up to the big league club.
In 23 contests with the Agua Caliente Clippers, a team he’ll continue to play for intermittently due to the two-way deal, Wallace has averaged 22.8 points and 5.4 assists per game. His ability to score the ball will be much appreciated by the team currently getting just 13.7 points per game out of the starting backcourt of Milos Teodosic and C.J. Williams.
As Wojnarowski mentioned in his tweet, Wilson had played well for the Clips, averaging 7.0 points per game in 18.3 minutes. He started 10 of his 15 games with the big league franchise and played five more in the G League.
- A foot injury suffered last week has kept Austin Rivers out of action for the Clippers. Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times tweets that the guard has undergone testing and will be re-evaluated in two weeks.