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2024 Clippers Exit Interview: Xavier Moon
Our exit interview series on the 2024 Clippers moves on with two-way guard Xavier Moon.
Basic Information
Height: 6’2
Weight: 170 pounds
Position: Point Guard
Age: 29
Years in NBA: 3
NBA Stats: 2.4 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 8.5 minutes per game across 14 games played (1 start) on 32.6/11.8/50 (1.2 3PA, 0.1 FTA attempts) shooting splits (35.2 True Shooting)
Expectations
Xavier Moon was not on the Clippers’ NBA roster when the
season began, but as he was once again back with the Ontario Clippers in the
G-League, most fans of the team expected Moon to make an appearance for the
Clips in the NBA at some point. The expectations for Moon were strong G-League
play and good bench vibes in the NBA.
Reality
For the third year in a row Xavier Moon started as a regular G-League player for the Ontario Clippers before getting signed by the Clippers to a two-way deal. This season, however, the signing was much earlier than previous years, as the Clippers brought in Moon as a two-way in November after promoting Josh Primo from a two-way to the full roster. Even more than prior years, the Moon signing was odd, as the Clippers were probably deeper at point guard than any other position.
As always, Moon mostly just played in garbage time, appearing twice in mid-December and then not appearing for the Clippers (in the NBA) until mid-March. Moon then appeared in quite a few more games, but didn’t get sustained run until the final three games of the year when the Clippers were sitting nearly all of their veterans. It was an opportunity for Moon, but the basketball was less than pleasant.
Overall, it was a very similar season to Moon’s prior two campaigns, with most of his time spent as the starting point guard in Ontario and just deep bench duty in Los Angeles.
Future with Clippers
The Clippers (or any other team) can no longer sign Xavier
Moon to two-way deals, as he would have more than three years of NBA experience.
Moon is now 29.5 years old, and while he’s clearly an awesome G-League player,
small guards with no dominant skills are just incredibly unlikely to be signed
to full NBA deals. The Clippers clearly love Moon for who he is and his ability
to organize the G-League Clips, but one has to think they won’t sign him to a
full deal. Maybe Xavier is happy staying in the G-League and getting the odd
10-day contract here or there, or maybe he goes back overseas. But it’s hard to
see him getting signed to a “real” deal by the Clippers from here on out.