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Clippers 2025 Exit Interviews: Nic Batum
Our exit interview series on the 2025 Clippers continues with beloved fan favorite Nicolas Batum.
Basic Information
Height: 6’8
Weight: 230 pounds
Position: Power Forward/Center
Age: 36
Years in NBA: 17
Key Regular Season Stats: 4.0 points, 1.1 assists, 2.8 rebounds, 0.7 steals, 0.5 blocks, and 0.4 turnovers in 17.5 minutes per game across 78 games played (eight starts) on 43.7/43.3/81.0 (2.6 3PA and 0.3 FTA attempts) shooting splits (63.3 True Shooting)
Key Playoff Stats: 5.6 points, 2.0 assists, 3.9 rebounds, 0.9 steals, 1.7 blocks, and 0.4 turnovers in 24.6 minutes per game across 7 games played (0 starts) on 39.4/39.4 (4.7 3PA and 0 FTA attempts) shooting splits (59.1 True Shooting)
Expectations
After being traded in the James Harden deal early in the
2024 season, Nico re-signed with the Clippers to much rejoicing. Fans, players,
coaches, and the front office all missed Nic in LA, and he and his family
clearly missed being with the Clippers in Los Angeles. The expectations for Batum
were clear: be a very similar role player to the guy he’d been for three years
for the Clips, just on a slightly smaller minutes load. All Nico had to do was
his usual 40% from three, connective passing, and solid defense, and he would
be meeting the mark.
Reality
As he basically always has as a Clipper, Nico came through. He was incredibly reliable for a 36-year-old, playing in nearly every game and maintaining a steady level of play befitting a 7th man on a playoff team. Nico made over 43% of his threes (albeit on relatively low volume), was a lynchpin on defense for one of the best defensive teams in the NBA, and helped with ball movement, entry passes, and general flow on offense. The production was far more limited than it was even earlier in his Clippers tenure, but the impact was undeniable.
Nico continued his strong campaign with a fantastic playoffs. He was one of two players on the Clippers, along with Ivica Zubac, that either met or exceeded expectations in the postseason, upping his minutes, points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks while making a solid number of his threes. The series did showcase some of Nico’s weaknesses, especially his lack of versatility on offense – he took no free throws in the series, and somehow did not take a single two-point shot in seven games. That said, he was good on defense, was the only Clippers’ role player to shoot well from deep, and proved essential to balancing the Clippers’ lineups as a two-way player.
If anything, Nic Batum’s importance to the Clippers this late in his career showed some of the weaknesses of the roster. The Clippers kept him mothballed for most of the regular season with very low minute loads, but he was a key piece in the playoffs, and quite frankly, 36-year-old role players should not be as important as Nico was. While Nico is a singularly gifted role player, it would be nice if the Clippers found a true starting-level power forward so they could prepare for a roster post-Nico.
Future with Clippers
Nico has a $4.9M player option for next year. Just about all reports are that he will pick that player option up to suit up for the Clippers in the 2026 season. Nico could retire, but he clearly showed he still has something left in the tank, and it’s tough to pass up that much money, even for a long-time NBA player. Of course, it’s possible Nico could decline the option and go elsewhere, but that seems incredibly unlikely given his fondness for the Clippers – and the team’s trust in him. I think Nico will be on the Clippers in 2026 for the last season of his quite incredible NBA career, and I just hope that it’s a season where they are able to remain relevant.