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The Return of the King: Nic Batum Signs With Clippers On Two Year Deal
In the most widely adored (by fans) Clippers move in years, the Clippers have agreed to terms to bring fan favorite Nic Batum back on a 2 year, $9.6M deal.
I don’t need to write about Nic Batum as a player. If you’re reading this site, or listening to our pod, you know how good Nic Batum is, how incredible a role player he is, and how much he will help this team. He’s what last year’s team was missing after the Harden trade and immediately fills a gap on this team.
Let’s talk next steps. The Clippers just signed Kris Dunn (a full article on him soon), and are getting pretty close to a full roster. The Clippers just used their BAE on Nico, so all they have left is the remains of the MLE (just a few million) and vet minimums. Right now, it seems as though the Clippers want to bring Nico off the bench, which means a starting unit of Harden-Mann-DJJ-Kawhi-Zu with a bench of Dunn-Norm-Amir-Nico-?, and depth of Bones, Kevin Porter Jr., Jordan Miller, Kobe Brown, and Cam Christie.
The Clippers clearly have too many guards, still need a backup center, and could probably use a starting-level power forward. So far, all of the Clippers’ signings (outside of Porter Jr) have been defense-first, which means they might be gearing up for an offense-first player (Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan?) to replace Paul George.
In the meantime, while we wait on the Clippers’ other moves, we can celebrate two more years of Nic Batum’s steadiness, defense, smart passing, and three-point shooting. Batum Battalion back!
The Return of the King: Nic Batum Signs With Clippers On Two Year Deal
Robert Flom