In somewhat shocking mid-August news, Shams Charania of ESPN has reported that the Clippers are bringing back veteran guard Bradley Beal on a two-year, $13.2M deal, with the second year being a player option. Law Murray of the Athletic confirmed the story, with the add-on that the player option only has $3M guaranteed.

This is shocking on multiple levels. First off, the Beal signing last offseason was a disaster, one of the moves that sunk the Clippers in the first two months of last season. Beal, of course, only played six games last year before being ruled out for the rest of the season with a fractured hip. He was miserably bad in those six games (albeit a tiny sample size), ranking as one of the worst players in the NBA. I was more or less a fan of the Beal signing last summer, figuring it was a decently high-upside swing at low cost, but that turned out not to be the case. Beal just turned 33, so it’s not impossible he can return to being a positive rotation player, but getting a raise and a player option after the season he just had seems like poor value.

Beal was a free agent because he opted out of the player option on the two-year, $11M deal he signed last summer (the Biannual Exception or BAE). It seems quite clear that he opted out with an understanding for the Clippers that they would re-sign him if he couldn’t find a better deal in free agency. Whether that also rules as tampering (it could be argued he signed for a “discount” last offseason because this deal was in place) is questionable, but it definitely looks very, very silly in hindsight. Again, it’s not impossible that Beal is a fine player even on this deal, but on the open market he was going to be a veteran’s minimum player. He is now making nearly double that, plus getting the second-year player option as a security blanket. I wrote in his exit interview that I thought that Beal would be back, but it’s because I thought he would pick up his player option. In the end, I guess he did.

The second reason this is surprising is because Beal, of course, is a guard – and the Clippers already have too many guards. Beal is filling the 15th spot on the roster, and that’s not counting Bennedict Mathurin (still sitting in restricted free agency) or the two-for-one trade of Kawhi for Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick (even more guards!). This means that if the Kawhi trade goes through, the Clippers will need to cut at least one player.

I will just get out ahead of things and say I don’t think this means anything in regards to the Kawhi trade. Yes, Beal’s signing would make a ton more sense on a roster that had Kawhi and not BI or Dick, but there has been no reporting or even rumors that the Kawhi trade is being called off.

If the trade does go through, the Clippers’ roster before cuts would look like this:

PG: Darius Garland – Keaton Wagler – Jalen Pickett (two-way)

SG: Kris Dunn – Bradley Beal – Gradey Dick – Cam Christie

SF: Brandon Ingram – Derrick Jones Jr. – Jordan Miller – Nick Martinelli (two-way)

PF: Rui Hachimura – Kobe Sanders – Johni Broome – Baba Miller

C: Brook Lopez – Isaiah Jackson – Yanic Konan Niederhauser – Jamarion Sharp (two-way)

This is not counting Bennedict Mathurin, and the Beal signing sure seems to indicate Benn won’t be back. As discussed previously, considering Kobe Sanders, Jordan Miller, and DJJ are all more 2/3s than 3/4s, and the Clippers presumably want Keaton Wagler to play with Darius Garland, they are insanely overloaded at the guard positions even without Mathurin. Even cutting the non-guaranteed contract of Christie (seems inevitable) leaves 7 players in the 1-3 positions on the court that should be in the rotation, and that’s fudging Sanders over to the 4 while leaving Gradey Dick (a totally viable reclamation project!) out of the rotation entirely.

Thus, even though the Clippers are not trying to contend this year, their roster is obviously out of balance in a way that could make the locker room difficult and building cohesive lineups very challenging. I therefore think that a trade of some kind is coming to clear some room. The most obvious names are Kris Dunn and Derrick Jones Jr., though almost nobody would surprise me. The question, of course, would be who gets traded – and for whom.

At the end of the day, it would be hard for Beal’s second year with the Clippers to go worse than his first. Hopefully he bounces back and has a decent season, and can maybe even rehab his value enough to be tradable at the deadline. For now, his signing complicates the Clippers’ roster, and indicates further moves. If the Clippers do not make any other moves besides letting Mathurin walk and cutting Christie, I would be dismayed. At this point, we just have to wait and see.

Clippers Re-Sign Bradley Beal to Two-Year Deal
Robert Flom

You know it’s the offseason when the “Where Are You Now” series restarts on 213 Hoops. I annually review the careers of a few former Clippers since they left the team, focusing on players that have not stuck around the NBA that Clippers fans will know less about. First up in this offseason is Mfiondu Kabengele.

Clippers Tenure

Fi was taken by the Nets with the 27^th pick in the 2019 Draft, but the Clippers traded for his rights on draft night, sending away a future pick. Drafted as a project, Fi had the outlines of a modern NBA big man with the potential ability to be a three-point shooter and rim protector, an extremely valuable combination. However, despite being almost 22 on draft day, Fi’s lack of feel was noticeable, and there were no expectations he would play much his rookie season. That was, also of course, the summer the Clippers acquired Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, so the team was going for a championship right away. It was a difficult spot to put a rookie.

Thus, Fi saw very little playing time his rookie season, logging just 12 games played, all in garbage time. That wasn’t unexpected. Unfortunately, what the Clippers saw behind the scenes troubled them so much that they declined Fi’s third-year team option as part of his first-round rookie contract, something that is very, very rarely ever done. As soon as they did that, Fi’s days as a Clipper were numbered. He played in 23 games in 2021, all in garbage time, before being traded to the Kings in a salary dump. In 35 games as a Clipper, Fi played more than 10 minutes just twice, an incredible sign of how little the coaching staff believed in him.

2021 Season

The Kings promptly waived Fi, who never played in game for them. The Cleveland Cavaliers swooped in and signed Fi to a 10-day deal, then another 10-day, and then finally to a rest-of-season deal. This tenure with the Cavs was by far the most he played in the NBA, appearing in 23 games and averaging 11.6 minutes per game. Sadly, despite the playing time, Fi’s stats did not tick up much, as the Cavaliers were tanking and not trying to win. During his time on the Cavs, Fi averaged 4.3 points and 2.9 rebounds while shooting 42.1% from the field and 28.1% from three.

2022 Season

Fi was signed to a training camp deal by the Rockets, but was nearly immediately waived, and signed with their G-League affiliate, the Rio Grande Vipers. He played the entire season for Rio Grande, appearing in 33 regular season games (starting 30) and 4 playoff games (starting all four), with pretty strong numbers. Importantly, Fi actually shot well from three, hitting 43.4% of his shots from deep on 3 attempts per game in the regular season while averaging 17.5 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. His three-point shooting dipped in the playoffs, but his raw production went up to 21.8 points and 12.3 rebounds. It was a nice season for Fi.

2023 Season

On the back of that G-League season and a strong Summer League, Fi earned a two-way deal with the Boston Celtics in the Summer of 2023. Despite that two-way deal, Fi spent nearly the entire season with the Maine Red Claws, logging a mere four games with the Celtics, all in garbage time. However, Fi thrived in Maine, 20 points, 10.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.1 blocks while shooting a staggering 60.4% from the field, 34.2% from three (2.9 attempts), and 79.1% from the line (3.4 attempts). Put simply, Fi was one of the best players in the G that year, and he received much deserved nods on the All G-League Second Team and All-Defensive Team.

2024 Season

After several years mostly playing in the G-League, Fi headed overseas in the summer of 2023, signing with AEK Athens of the Greek Basket League. However, Fi played in just 10 games for Athens before his contract was terminated (reason unclear, his stats look pretty good). He fairly quickly turned around and signed with an Italian team, Reyer Venezia of the LBA and EuroCup. Fi finished 18 regular season games with averages of 9.2 points and 6.6 rebounds on 55% shooting from the field, though he scored more in the EuroCup and Italian Cup games. Fi had a downswing in production compared to his G-League years, but that was probably a sign of the raised competition overseas compared to the G-League. One interesting thing happened, which is that Fi stopped taking so many threes – a reverse pivot from other players who have focused more on their shots over the years.

2025 Season

Venezia liked what they saw from Fi, as they signed him to a new deal for the 2025 season. Fi spent the whole season as a starter, appearing in 35 regular season games and 18 EuroCup games. His averages across both leagues were quite similar, with a combination of 15.3 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 0.8 blocks on excellent scoring efficiency (he shot much better in EuroCup than domestic play). Venezia was around .500, and Fi led the team in scoring and rebounding by significant margins, even with former NBA players like Rodney McGruder (another former Clipper) and Tyler Ennis on the roster. It was a return to form for Fi, with the final cherry on top being an All First-Team EuroCup spot.

2026 Season

Fi’s 2025 success brought immediate dividends, as he signed in May 2025 with Dubai, which plays in the EuroLeague (the best league in the world outside of the US) and Adriatic Basketball League (ABA, another top 10 league). Across a very, very long top-level international season, Fi played in 68 games, and started 61. Dubai actually won the ABA League championship, with Fi voted as the Finals MVP and placing on the All ABA First Team. Dubai was only middling in EuroLeague, but still, Fi’s numbers of 14.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.7 blocks while shooting 56.3% from the field were quite good. Fi was third on the team in scoring and led the team in rebounding and blocks while playing with a host of former NBA players like McKinley Wright, Dwayne Bacon, Filip Petrusev, Justin Anderson, Davis Bertans, and Bruno Caboclo. Squarely in his prime at 28 years old, Fi had firmly placed himself as a top-flight starter at the very highest levels of basketball outside of the United States.

Future

Just last month Dubai announced that they had extended Fi’s contract through 2028, meaning he will be on the team another two seasons. International contracts are usually much more team-friendly than those in the NBA, so I don’t think it’s guaranteed Fi will stick around that long, but it’s a strong sign of commitment regardless. Fi may have found his long-term home for the rest of his basketball prime, and honestly, solidifying himself as a true Euroleague-level starter is about as good as your career can be outside the NBA. Somewhat shockingly, Fi has turned into probably the best player of any “Where Are They Now” guy I’ve done in quite a while. Good for Fi!

Where Are They Now: Mfiondu Kabengele
Robert Flom

The Clippers keep coming up with moves even as the NBA calendar has shifted firmly into its dead zone, with Mike Scotto of Hoops Hype breaking the news today that the Clippers will sign point guard Jalen Pickett to a two-way deal. Nobody else has confirmed the signing, to my knowledge, but nobody has denied it either, and Scotto has been reliable enough that I’m assuming he is correct on this one.

Pickett was the 32nd pick in the 2023 Draft and has played the last three seasons on the Nuggets as a reserve. A 6’2, 202 pound guard, Pickett appeared in 126 games for the Nuggets across those three seasons, starting 22 (18 of those came last year). Last season saw Pickett set career highs across the board, averaging 5.2 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 16.1 minutes per game across 50 games played.

Pickett’s two biggest strengths so far in his somewhat limited NBA minutes have been his three-point shooting and his ability to limit turnovers. He’s shot 38.7% from three in his NBA career, albeit on only 253 attempts. Still, he’s been a good shooter and that seems like a real enough skill. Pickett has averaged 1.9 assists to just 0.5 turnovers, an assist to turnover ratio of almost 4:1. Again, small sample size, but notable.

Pickett is not young. A long-time college player, he turns 27 in October, putting him squarely in his prime. Thus, rather than an upside play, this is clearly a signing to add depth to the point guard position. Pickett can clearly play at least a bit at the NBA level, and the Clippers do not have a third-string point guard behind Darius Garland and Keaton Wagler. Thus, Pickett is insurance.

Scotto has not said which of the Clippers’ previous two-way players would be waived to clear room for Pickett, but my guess would be Sean Pedulla, as he projected to fill that third-string point guard slot. Pedulla is almost three years younger than Pickett, so he has more theoretical upside, but Pickett offers a much higher floor as an NBA player if called upon. Pedulla can play, but he seemed too small to really have much of an NBA career any way, so getting Pickett in that spot is a clear upgrade for me.

I don’t have much else to say about this one, but getting a guy who has played real NBA minutes for a good team and is right in his prime on a two-way deal is a nice piece of business for the Clippers.

Clippers to Sign Jalen Pickett to Two-Way Deal
Robert Flom

There’s not a ton to talk about in late July/early August in the NBA, but by god Lucas and I found a way to go 50 minutes on The Lob The Jam The Podcast regardless. Our latest episode covered the updates (or lack thereof) to the Kawhi Leonard situation, the Clippers’ trade for Johni Broome, and the Bennedict Mathurin restricted free agent standoff.

I’ve placed the Spotify link to the podcast below, but you can also find the pod on Apple, Spreaker, and basically every other major podcast platform.

TLTJTP: Entering the Dead Days of the Offseason
Robert Flom

The Clippers traded for Sixers forward Johni Broome today to help round out their roster, sending cash considerations to the Sixers and receiving a second round pick for their troubles to help the Sixers clear a roster spot to sign Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

Broome was the 35^th pick in last year’s (stacked) draft, meaning the Sixers are bailing quite early on him as a prospect. A 6’9, 244 pound power forward, Broome won the National Player of the Year Award in his senior season at Auburn in 2025, leading the team in points, rebounds, and assists and helping them claim a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. However, extremely, extremely poor measurables (one of the lowest verticals in NBA combine history) sunk Broome’s draft stock, and a lot of draft analysts viewed him as more of a two-way flier than an early second-rounder worthy of a real contract.

Broome only appeared in 11 regular season games for the Sixers, all in garbage time, and shot an insanely bad 4-24 from the field in those minutes. Broome was a lot more productive in his 26 games in the G-League, scoring over 21 points per game and collecting over 8 rebounds a night as well. However, Broome was not particularly efficient, as he didn’t shoot well from three or the free throw line, nor did he get to the line a ton. Quite frankly, the numbers seem a bit empty calories, though it’s always tough to really judge G-League play.

Every Sixers fan I know was rooting to get off Broome’s contract (guaranteed for just over $2.1M this year, non-guaranteed next season, team option in 2028-2029) as their best option to clear a roster spot. Despite his college productivity, his lack of shooting or defense as a power forward makes it tough for him to be a role player, and it feels unlikely that he can create against NBA-level athletes like he did in college. In short, while Broome does fill a spot on the depth chart the Clippers needed at power forward, I see no real indications to believe in him as an NBA player.

The true benefit of this trade is adding another second-round pick to the Clippers’ slowly growing warchest of future assets. The pick will be the second most favorable of three picks the Sixers control, making it a solid bet to be somewhere in the 30s or low 40s next year. Whether the Clippers keep the pick or move it, to me, that asset is much more valuable than Broome.

The Clippers were able to trade for Broome using the trade exception they got for dumping Chris Paul last deadline, meaning it has no financial impact on anything else they can do the rest of the offseason outside of tax purposes. The Clippers are still well below the luxury tax margin, so keeping Bennedict Mathurin, signing and trading him for another player, or trading for Peyton Watson (or someone else) are all still feasible options.

Technically, Broome is the 15^th player on the Clippers roster, if you assume the Kawhi trade will go through (I still do). However, that counts Cam Christie, who is on a non-guaranteed deal and can be waived at any time. Thus, even though they have a “full” roster right now, I would still expect one more move, either relating to Mathurin, Watson, or possibly Jonathan Kuminga. We will just have to wait and see.

Clippers Trade for Johni Broome from Sixers
Robert Flom

Well, the NBA offseason has entered its quiet stage. The last big piece of business (LeBron James’ free agency) is done, with all that’s left most likely being restricted free agents (Jalen Duren, Peyton Watson, Bennedict Mathurin), minimum signings, and two-way deals. So, with the dust settled in the West, where do the Clippers look like they’ll place?

First off, this is assuming the Kawhi trade to the Raptors does move forward. I have seen or heard nothing that makes me think it won’t, even if it happens in September or October and the parameters change slightly. I think he will be a Raptor, and that Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick will be Clippers.

Second, this is also assuming no major trades happen until the season begins. I also don’t really think Watson or Mathurin signing anywhere would shift how I view any of these teams holistically. Duren would be a different story, but there’s no reporting that the Pistons are going to let him go or will entertain a sign-and-trade.

Third, you do have to remember that the NBA’s new draft lottery rules kick in for next year’s draft, and pretty strongly ward off true “tanking to the bottom”, though I think at the end of the season plenty of bad teams will still throw in the towel. The NBA will likely be more overall competitive and have more “parity” than in previous years, as there is less incentive to be truly awful.

Let’s quickly review the Clippers’ current roster, with the news of Jamarion Sharp’s signing and Cam Christie’s guarantee date being pushed back until after training camp.

PG: Darius Garland – Keaton Wagler – Sean Pedulla (two-way)

SG: Brandon Ingram – Kris Dunn – Gradey Dick – Cam Christie

SF: Derrick Jones Jr. – Jordan Miller – Nick Martinelli (two-way)

PF: Rui Hachimura – Kobe Sanders – Baba Miller

C: Brook Lopez – Isaiah Jackson – Yanic Konan Niederhauser – Jamarion Sharp (two-way)

We can get some of the hard decisions out of the way quickly. Barring shocking developments or injuries, the Thunder, Spurs, Nuggets, Wolves, Rockets, and Lakers will finish ahead of the Clippers next year. All finished well ahead of the Clippers in the standings last year, and either improved their rosters or took minor hits that should still keep them in the playoff range.

Going the other direction, the only two teams I’m fairly sure the Clippers will be better than are the Kings and Pelicans. Both squads were much worse than the Clippers last year and did little or nothing to get better. They have young rosters and could improve organically, but the team constructions are a bit of a mess and I just don’t have faith in either organization.

That puts the Clippers somewhere between 7 and 13 in the Western Conference. I think that’s still a bit broad, so let’s try to narrow it down a bit more. The Suns and Blazers both finished ahead of the Clippers last year, but I don’t feel great about either team’s summer. The Suns’ strong 2026 campaign seemed a bit fluky and they didn’t do a lot to improve their roster. The Blazers are young and have some interesting players but also have a very guard heavy roster and traded for a potential locker room mine in Ja Morant. Ultimately, I think the Clippers clear the Suns and don’t get to the Blazers.

The team that finished below the Clippers that I’m most confident will leap them is the Mavericks, who are getting back Kyrie Irving (missed all of last season due to injury) and Dereck Lively II (ditto), traded for Santi Aldama and Zacharie Risaccher without losing any players of note, and will likely see improvements from Cooper Flagg in year 2.

That narrows the Clippers down to the 9-12 range in the West. I tend to lean towards the Clippers clearing the Grizzlies (still very young) and the Warriors (ancient and injury-prone), with the Jazz being a major question mark. Ultimately, I think basically all of those teams –  Blazers, Mavs, Clippers, Suns, Jazz, Grizzlies, and Warriors – could reach the play-in, but I’d be a bit surprised if any of them cracked the top 6 in the West next year. Then again, there are always multiple shocking teams in either direction.

I will do my annual division previews in a few weeks, and my thoughts on any of these teams could change significantly in that period. However, I tend to think the Clippers will be somewhere in the back half of the play-in range once again, with a win total going from the low 30s at worst to the mid 40s at absolute best. As long as the team is entertaining and the young players show promise, the season will be a success. This is the first Clippers’ season since 2018 without real playoff expectations, and hopefully that actually makes it more fun on a nightly basis.

Placing the Clippers in the Western Conference in Late July
Robert Flom

With Summer League over, the dog days of the NBA calendar are here, with nothing really on the calendar for months and the only big item left unchecked being LeBron James’ free agency, which will not impact the Clippers. Therefore, I was mildly surprised when some Clippers news came out of the blue today with the report that they have signed Jamarion Sharp to a two-way deal.

You will be forgiven for not knowing who Sharp is even if you’re a massive NBA fan. Sharp went undrafted out of Ole Miss in 2024, and has spent most of the last two years in the G-League with a brief stint in Puerto Rico. Speaking of massive, Sharp is huge even by NBA standards, standing at 7’5 and weighing 240 pounds. He will be the second tallest player in the NBA behind only Victor Wembanyama, a truly impressive physical specimen.

But what does Sharp bring as a basketball player? Well, because of his size, he’s a dominant rim protector. He won the G-League Defensive Player of the Year in 2026 for the Texas Legends, and averaged a truly insane 3.8 blocks in just 24.9 minutes per game. Even without terrific instincts or athleticism, the sheer size and wingspan make Sharp a real deterrent around the rim.

Unfortunately, that’s more or less all Sharp offers. He has not been a great rebounder in college or the G-League, never averaging more than 7.7 boards per game (last season at Western Kentucky in 2023). Sharp is also not a scorer, averaging just 7 points per game in the G-League and topping at 8.2 in college. Scoring that little despite his immense presence shows how little offensive acumen Sharp has.

Put simply, this is no more than an emergency depth big that the Clippers feel like they can throw out for a handful of minutes if Brook Lopez or Isaiah Jackson gets hurt or is struggling. With Yanic Konan Niederhauser injured, and John Collins, Kawhi Leonard, and Nic Batum gone, the Clippers are thin at center and have no feasible small-ball big men. Therefore, adding a big man on a two-way deal makes sense, even if Sharp (already 25) offers little upside or real playability due to his limitations.

The Clippers’ roster is now quite close to full (pending the Kawhi Leonard trade) as they have 14 full roster spots and all three two-way spots filled. There is plenty of wiggle room, as two-way spots can be vacated with no cap hits, and Cam Christie’s full deal is also non-guaranteed until the end of training camp in October. Still, unless the Kawhi trade is pushed through soon (seems unlikely) or a Peyton Watson sign-and-trade happens (also unlikely), it feels like the Clippers will probably not be acquiring any new players anytime soon. However, Bennedict Mathurin is still an outstanding piece of business, and I’m guessing at some point or other movement happens there.

For now, you all can probably tune out of the NBA for a bit and turn your attention to something else! We will still be podding on TLTJTJ, and I’ll be putting up articles on here weekly on random topics, but the offseason is now here in earnest.

Clippers Sign Jamarion Sharp to Two-Way Deal
Robert Flom

First off, as always with Summer League, a huge grain of salt with everything. I value Summer League less and less every year – while it’s fun, and it’s good to see NBA rookies log their first minutes in team uniforms, it’s almost useless as an evaluation tool due to the slapdash nature of the rosters and the lack of team cohesion. That said, here are some thoughts.

Keaton Wagler

After a dismal first game in Summer League, Wagler was mostly pretty good the next three (he sat one game for rest on a back-to-back). Wagler ended up leading the Clippers in scoring at 18 points per game, though he did so fairly inefficiently (38.6% from the field, 33.3% from three). It’s such a small sample size that shots dropping or not does not matter to me much. In general, Wagler was bothered by pressure, had a tough time finishing around the rim, and had to work a lot to get clean looks. None of that was a surprise, however – it was always expected that he’d need to get stronger to really be an on-ball threat in the NBA. The good news is that his soft touch was apparent, as was his willingness to play off-ball. I also thought he had some good moments on defense. All in all, not an amazing showing that some fans may have dreamed of, but far from a disaster.

Nick Martinelli

In terms of raw production, Martinelli was the Clippers’ best rookie in Vegas. He averaged 14.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game while shooting 60.4% from three and 50% from three (3-6). Martinelli’s overall basketball skill and knowhow was evident. He got to his spots, rarely forced the issue, and looked comfortable both in a catch-and-shoot setting as well as in a secondary role taking opponents off the dribble. Martinelli is definitely at an athletic disadvantage at the NBA level, but is just a flat out good basketball player that really impressed me with his rebounding and touch in the painted area on little floaters. The defense might be rough, yet there is a world where I could see Martinelli contributing to the Clippers in a 9^th or 10^th man role as soon as this year.

Baba Miller

Baba’s stats don’t pop (12 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1.4 blocks) but he had the best highlights and flashes of anyone on the Clippers in Vegas. His natural athleticism is noteworthy, allowing him several monster dunks and blocks. Baba also showed some playmaking acumen, making a number of nice reads both at the top of the key and off-the-dribble to get teammates easy looks. He’s still very raw, and I don’t think he’ll be ready for rotation minutes this year, but you can see why the Clippers signed him to a four-year deal with two seasons guaranteed: there’s a very interesting player in there if the shot develops or the defense evolves to be consistently positive.

Kobe Sanders

I’m still not really sure why Kobe was brought to Vegas. He played four games (sitting the last one) and looked pretty good. Kobe’s game is not flashy and not really translatable to “star” play like we’ve seen from Jordan Miller in previous years, so there was only one outing where he stood out, but he was competent and looked a cut above most of the Summer Leaguers. Nothing too exciting, but also a perfectly fine showing.

Cam Christie

Cam was unfortunately the only Summer League Clipper that had a truly disappointing outing in Vegas. As a third-year player with some real (if limited) NBA reps, fans were hoping Cam would look too good for Summer League. That did not happen. Cam played only the first two games, and seemed determined to drive to the rim rather than shoot (probably on coaching instruction). That would be fine, but the drives never really looked good, especially in the halfcourt, with a lot of missed shots and awful turnovers. Overall, Cam shot just 4/18 from the field in his two games (he missed the last three with ankle soreness) and had two assists to eight turnovers. It was a pretty bad showing from Cam, and one that could truly have him on the roster bubble as we head into the quiet part of the offseason.

Sean Pedulla

Sean Pedulla had an uneven Summer League, mixing in awful games (1 and 3) with terrific ones (2 and 5). Overall, it’s clear he’s a good, skilled point guard that can pass, shoot, and handle. The issue is that he’s absolutely tiny and not athletic enough to consistently break down NBA-level defenses. I didn’t really see anything that makes me think he’s a true NBA player, but the Clippers might keep him around like they did Xavier Moon a few years ago as a guy who can probably step in for 10-12 minutes in the NBA as a competent-enough reserve guard.

Norchad Omier

Omier had a similar Summer League to Pedulla, starting off poorly (Game 3 was a real lowlight) with a strong finish. Also like Pedulla, even though you can kind of see the vision with Omier (he’s strong, plays hard, and is a good screen setter and rebounder), he’s just too undersized to play center in the NBA unless he can shoot threes or become a better defender. When he’s playing well he’s fun to watch, but I don’t see a real role for him at the NBA level.

The Rest

The Clippers brought five other players to Vegas, but none of them played enough to warrant full write-ups. Jahmyl Telfort was definitely the “best of the rest”, looking like a competent “3 and D” guard and plugging into lineups with the Clippers’ rostered players with ease. Fletcher Loyer and Riley Kugel were both nondescriptly “fine” in their minutes without much to note in either direction. Themus Fulks played the least of any of the Clippers’ Summer Leaguers and was ok as a floor general PG. And lastly, Zach Freemantle was absolutely awful as a backup center, with almost no redeeming qualities. Sorry, Zach.

Clippers 2026 Summer League Recap
Robert Flom

The Clippers have alternated awful performances (Games 1 and 3) with a very good one (Game 2), so hopefully tonight they can replicate their Game 2 performance and bounce back from their blowout loss to the Lakers last night.

The Clippers play at 7:30 PM ET on ESPN against the Wizards, though unfortunately Keaton Wagler is out for rest, while Cam Christie is sitting with ankle soreness. For the Wizards, the number one pick in the draft, AJ Dybantsa, has already been shut down for the rest of Summer League. It’s probably going to be a pretty dismal affair.

Clippers 2026 Summer League, Game 4 Thread
Robert Flom

The Clippers play their third Summer League game of 2026 tonight, against the hated Lakers.

After a miserable first game in Vegas, the Clippers were mostly quite good in the 2nd game, blowing out the Jazz behind a knockout third quarter punch. Almost everyone who received a lot of minutes played well for the Clippers outside of Cam Christie, with the three standouts being their rookies: Keaton Wagler, Baba Miller, and Nick Martinelli.

Hopefully the Clippers play as well tonight as they did in Game 2, and that their main roster plays continue to show what they can do.

Clippers 2026 Summer League, Game 3 Thread
Robert Flom