We’re continuing our 213Hoops Exit Interview series, where we go player-by-player through the Clippers’ roster and break down how each player on the team performed relative to their pre-season expectations, and ponder their future with the team. Today, we’ll glance at the player with the briefest Clipper tenure this year: undrafted free agent Malik Fitts.

Basic Information

Height: 6’8″

Weight: 230 lbs.

Position: SF/PF

Age: 24

Years in NBA: 1

Key Stats: In 3 NBA games for the Clippers, played a total of 11 minutes and added 3 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 fouls, hitting 1 of his 2 three-point attempts. In 14 NBA G-League games with the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario, Fitts played 26.3 minutes per game and averaged 11.1 points and 4.0 rebounds on 47/35/94 splits.

Contract Status: An undrafted free agent, Fitts was cut in training camp last season before being brought back on a 10-day contract in April. His G-League rights are owned by the Agua Caliente Clippers.

Expectations

When talking expectations for undrafted free agents that are brought into training camp, there really can’t be any. Every team brings in 3 or 4 guys like Malik Fitts into camp every year and it’s extremely, extremely rare that one impresses enough in those couple of weeks to actually displace a player with a guaranteed contract and earn a spot on the opening night roster. The new two-way contract system the NBA has used in the last few years makes latching on a bit more attainable, as beating out someone like Amir Coffey for that spot would have been a bit easier for the Clippers to accept both strategically and financially than Fitts replacing someone like Patrick Patterson. But it was still only ever a dream scenario for Malik, with his real objective being to make a strong enough impression on the team that they’d consider him a potential fringe roster player for mid-season emergencies or future seasons.

Reality

And if that’s a realistic goal for an undrafted free agent in training camp, Malik accomplished it. Once the dust settled on the Clippers’ end-of-roster/hard cap situation late in the season and they finally had the flexibility to utilize their 15th roster spot, the team turned to Malik for forward depth on a 10-day contract. He played sparingly in 3 games for the team, but his actual NBA minutes weren’t what made his journey this year a success–it was doing enough in camp and with Agua Caliente that the front office and coaching staff selected him for that NBA opportunity. Ty Lue praised his ability to defend both forward spots in and hit threes in camp, which may have been the biggest factor in his inclusion in the team months later. Unfortunately for both Malik and the Clippers, shortly after he signed his 10-day contract Patrick Beverley suffered a broken hand. As a result, the team opted not to retain Fitts for a second 10-day or rest-of-season deal, instead replacing him with additional guard depth in the form of Yogi Ferrell. But had circumstances been different and not forced LAC’s hand into needing an additional guard, Malik could have easily found himself with the Clippers for the remainder of the year and during the playoffs.

Future with Clippers

Malik has no easily mappable trajectory for a potential future with the Clippers, as he has no contract or free agent rights with the team that make a reunion unlikely and he is clearly an extremely low-priority free agent (while Lue may have praised him, if the Clippers liked Malik that much they could have made sure to keep a hold of him instead of cutting him in camp in December and then allowing his 10-day deal to end in April). But it’s certainly possible, since we know the Clippers do like Malik as a potential fringe roster option, that he could wind up filling a vacant two-way contract spot this off-season if the team moves Amir Coffey onto the 15-man roster or otherwise loses him in free agency. Even if no big, exciting Clipper future is in store for Malik, it does seem likely that he’s a guy who will hang around in their system, playing summer league and g-league ball and hoping for another 10-day or 2-way opportunity, until he gets an offer from another team or moves overseas.

213Hoops is an independently owned and operated L.A. Clippers blog by Clippers fans, for Clippers fans. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at $1 a month and support from readers like you goes a long way towards helping us keep 213Hoops sustainable, growing, and thriving.

Clippers 2021 Exit Interview: Malik Fitts
Lucas Hann

According to The Athletic’s Law Murray, the Clippers are set to sign Malik Fitts to a 10-day contract, at least temporarily filling the team’s 15th roster spot and giving them a full 17-man squad for the first time this season.

Fitts, a 23-year-old rookie out of St. Mary’s College, is a 6’8″ tweener forward who was in training camp with the Clippers this season, making a couple of pre-season appearances before journeying to Orlando with the Agua Caliente Clippers for the NBA G-League bubble season. He played just 7 pre-season minutes with the Clippers, missing his only shot attempt and collecting 3 rebounds, but had more of an opportunity with ACCO, averaging 11 points and 4 rebounds in 26 minutes a game while shooting 35% from three.

Most of that production came towards the end of the G-League season. Fitts moved into the starting lineup for the team’s last 6 games and averaged 18 points per game in those contests, shooting 43% from deep. Those marks are a bit more in line with his collegiate numbers, as he averaged 16 points and shot 41% from three in his junior and senior seasons at St. Mary’s. On the defensive end of the floor, Fitts left college with a poor reputation, but he earned praise from the Clippers’ G-League coaching staff in Orlando, so there may be hope for him to make more of a positive impact with the focus that accompanies a refined role and the competition for a roster spot.

After the Clippers added DeMarcus Cousins to their 14th roster spot on Monday, Fitt’s addition (when made official) will fill their 15-man roster for the first time this season. With two-way players Amir Coffey and Jay Scrubb also under contract, LAC will finally have the maximum of 17 players–though Scrubb isn’t expected to be available to play this season. But, these deals for Cousins and Fitts are temporary, 10-day contracts. While I expect that Cousins will earn a rest-of-season deal if he shows decently in the next week, it feels a bit odd for the Clippers to both pass on the opportunity to add a veteran forward and pass over Amir Coffey to place Fitts directly on the 15-man roster.

The veteran free agent list is admittedly uninspiring if the Clippers are looking for someone trustworthy for situational usage defending the wing and forward positions in the playoffs. The names available include Wilson Chandler, Justin Anderson, DeMarre Carroll, Justin Jackson, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Glenn Robinson III, Thabo Sefolosha, Mario Hezonja, and Andre Roberson–a collection of guys who are either years removed from rotation-caliber play (whether due to injuries or age) or were never really rotation-caliber guys to begin with. I’d probably feel a little better about throwing Carroll out there for a few playoff minutes in a pinch than Fitts, but that might be misguided based on name value and experience. In any event, Ty Lue will have the option to go a bit smaller deploy Terance Mann, who is more of a 2/3 than 3/4 but has established himself as a reliable option for this Clippers team this season.

But if the Clippers are passing on those veteran options in favor of getting another prospect in the door, the team might ultimately seek to swap Fitts and Coffey’s roster positions, converting Amir (who has already spent 2 of his maximum allowed 3 years on a two-way) to a potentially team-friendly, multi-year contract on the 15-man roster and then signing Fitts to a two-way deal to replace Coffey. Technically, this would enhance the team’s control over these two prospects, as Coffey would be inked going forward instead of hitting restricted free agency this summer, and Fitts’ qualifying offer as a restricted free agent would be for a new two-way deal rather than a minimum-salary contract (and Fitts could potentially sign a two-way contract running through the end of next season, keeping both guys off the market this summer).

213Hoops is an independently owned and operated L.A. Clippers blog by Clippers fans, for Clippers fans. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at $1 a month and support from readers like you goes a long way towards helping us keep 213Hoops sustainable, growing, and thriving.

Clippers to sign Malik Fitts to 10-day contract
Lucas Hann

According to reports, Malik Fitts and Jordan Ford will join the Clippers in training camp. The duo were teammates at Saint Mary’s last season and went undrafted last night in the 2020 NBA Draft.

Fitt’s, a 6’8″ combo forward, announced his move on twitter:

Ford’s addition came minutes later via Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes:

Fitts, who is 23 years old, averaged 16.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game last season while shooting 40.8% from three (he shot 40.6% the year prior). He’ll need to effectively utilize his lateral quickness and increase his volume from deep to develop into an NBA player, but it’s a good sign that he’s already got that quickness and solid shooting numbers in college. The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie had him 75th overall on his big board, grading him as a two-way contract player, and he was 80th on ESPN’s big board. He’ll likely compete for a two-way deal, with 55th overall pick Jayden Scrubb and current two-way prospect Amir Coffey the favorites to nab those two spots. Short of that, expect him to spend time with the Clippers in training camp before joining Agua Caliente.

Ford is legitimately one of the best pure scorers in the draft, but a lot of things stood in between him and being selected. He’s a small guard at 6’1″, playing for a smaller (but still well-respected) program at Saint Mary’s, and he’ll turn 23 next spring. He’s also not really enough of a distributor to be a point guard at 6’1″, and his size will keep him from being a plus defensively in the NBA, so there’s enough downside to keep teams away. But back to the scoring–he is a polished three-level scorer who finishes well at the rim for a tiny guard, tortures defenses with high-efficiency floaters and pull-ups, and shot over 40% from three each of the last three seasons. As a junior he scored 21.1 points per game, slightly increasing to 21.9 per game as a senior and earning all-conference honors each year. He was 73rd on Vecenie’s big board and 96th on ESPN, and should face a similar path with the organization as Fitts: a training camp deal where he tries to earn an end-of-bench open roster spot (like Derrick Walton Jr. last year, if a spot is open again this year) or impress the staff enough to displace one of the presumptive two-way guys. Otherwise, he’ll be with Agua Caliente as an unrestricted free agent.

213Hoops is an independently owned and operated L.A. Clippers blog by Clippers fans, for Clippers fans. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at $1 a month and support from readers like you goes a long way towards helping us keep 213Hoops sustainable, growing, and thriving.

Fitts, Ford Join Clippers From Saint Mary’s
Lucas Hann