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Clippers Waive Kai Jones, Sign Seth Lundy and Patrick Baldwin Jr.
The Clippers made a flurry of moves this afternoon, prompted by the March 1 deadline of playoff eligibility. First, they waived Marjon Beauchamp to enable the conversion of Jordan Miller to a full deal (an article on that is next). They then waived two-way player Kai Jones and signed Seth Lundy and Patrick Baldwin Jr. to the two open two-way spots.
Kai was signed by the Clippers at the end of last season so that they’d have his rights in the offseason. He was then signed to a two-way deal and played 28 games for the Clippers this season, in essence replacing Moussa Diabate in the Clippers’ organization. In fact, for the first 10 games or so of the season, he was the Clippers’ backup center with Mo Bamba out due to injury. Unfortunately, Jones was not good – he played with a lot of energy and his sheer athleticism was useful in the open court, but he showed zero skills on offense and was constantly out of position on defense. At 24 years old, it’s probably unlikely that Jones improves enough at the fundamentals of basketball to be a real NBA player, and the Clippers clearly agreed. It’s not a huge deal, but with Moussa looking like an actual NBA caliber guy in Charlotte, the Clippers’ choosing of Kai over Moussa appears to be a total whiff.
Baldwin Jr. is the more recognizable name of the two new faces. He was a 5-star high school recruit in the 2021 class before disappointing at Milwaukee. He was still selected with the 28th pick of the 2022 Draft by the Warriors, but did not play much for them (31 games) and was moved in the Chris Paul-Jordan Poole in the summer of 2023. Baldwin was on the Wizards for the next 1.5 seasons and played in 60 games for them before getting traded to the Spurs in February and promptly getting waived.
A 6’9, 220 pound forward, Baldwin has the physical profile of a modern NBA forward. He can also shoot, with a 36.6% three-point percentage on 202 threes in the NBA and 35.8% on 190 attempts in the G-League. Unfortunately, Baldwin hasn’t shown much else, with average or worse rebounding, playmaking, and defensive stats and very poor 2-point shooting percentages. He’s still young at 22 years old, and has a pedigree, so this is a fine swing on a two-way even if he’s not ready to help the Clippers now.
Seth Lundy is probably less known for your average NBA fan. He was the 46th pick in the 2023 Draft by the Atlanta Hawks, but unlike Baldwin has barely played in the NBA, with just nine games and around 50 minutes to his name. He was waived in December 2024 by the Hawks and has not signed anywhere since (he had foot surgery in the offseason and hasn’t played this year). A four-year starter at Penn State, Lundy is already close to 25 years of age, with his birthday coming up in April.
Lundy is a fairly traditional shooting guard at 6’4, 220 and has shot the ball very well (40% from deep on 8.8 attempts per game) in the G-League, albeit on a relatively small sample size (25 games total). Lundy is definitely a score-first player, as he averaged less than one assist per game in college despite playing a lot of minutes. He is a strong rebounder for his size, however, and has decent defensive stats. There’s not a ton of upside there, but there’s more evidence he is good at basketball than Kai.
These are about as minor as moves can be in the NBA, but I’m pretty much on board with them. Best of luck to Kai, and welcome Pat and Seth to the Clippers!
Clippers Waive Kai Jones, Sign Seth Lundy and Patrick Baldwin Jr.
Robert Flom