The Clippers just announced that they will waive Justin Patton, the third-year center who came over from the Pistons in the Luke Kennard deal. Patton, of course, hasn’t played with the Clippers, and has only played in 9 total games since being taken with the 16th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. While his not making it to training camp might look bad, the Clippers already have two young big men, and cutting Patton loose early will give him a better chance of getting a training camp invite from another team with more room at center.
For the Clippers, the timing of this move is interesting. Patton’s contract was non-guaranteed, so they could have waived it at any time. Maybe waiving him early was just a favor, as considered above, both for him and his agent. The other possibility, of course, is that the Clippers are planning a trade, and need either the salary cap space or the roster spot to make a deal work.
After waiving Patton, the Clippers have 11 players under contract for next season, along with unsigned 2nd round rookie Daniel Oturu, the non-guaranteed contract of veteran center Joakim Noah, and Amir Coffey and other rookie Jayden Scrubb on two-way deals. If they waive Noah, as it seems like they will do, and then sign Oturu to a full deal, they will then have three spots with which to work. For more information on what they could do with those spots, check out Lucas’ article on available free agents.
The Clippers waive of Justin Patton is the first news regarding the team since the Ibaka news broke late Saturday. With free agency mostly over, it will be interesting to see how they fill out the last 2-3 spots on the roster, and whether there are any other trades left in the tank. Stay tuned for all that and more here at 213 Hoops!
