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According to Shams Charania of The Vertical, the Clippers have signed Brandon Bass to a one-year deal:
Lakers free agent Brandon Bass has reached agreement on a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Clippers, league sources tell The Vertical.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 17, 2016
Bass will be signed using the veteran's minimum.
As an 11-year veteran, Bass' salary will be $1,551,659, though his cap hit for the Clippers will be just $980,431.
In his 11-year career, Bass has played 706 NBA games, mostly off the bench, for Boston, Dallas, Orlando, New York, and the Lakers. He has career averages of 8.9 points and 4.7 rebounds in 22.4 minutes per game, while shooting 49.6% from the field.
Last season with the Lakers, Bass played in 66 games off of the bench, posting per-36 averages of 12.7 points and 7.6 rebounds. With the Clippers, he'll compete for limited backup big minutes with Brice Johnson and Marreese Speights.
In many ways, Bass takes pressure off of Brice Johnson. Rookies are always hit-or-miss, and while there's still a chance that Brice can earn minutes and play well this season, Bass provides a reliable replacement-level option at the position in case Johnson struggles. If Johnson's good in his rookie year, it shouldn't be very hard for him to move past Bass in the rotation.
Bass previously played for Doc Rivers in Boston during the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 seasons, during which he started over half of his games and played over 4,000 minutes in Rivers' system. That shows a certain level of comprehension for Doc's defensive patterns which is encouraging when viewing Bass as a safe backup signing.
The Clippers now have fourteen guaranteed contracts on their roster, leaving them with just over $400,000 in wiggle room under the luxury tax. Branden Dawson's non-guaranteed deal takes them over the tax threshold. If the Clippers cut Dawson and carry 14 players into the season, they can sign a player to a rest-of-the-season minimum-salaried deal in February to round out the roster while still avoiding the tax.
If the Clippers decide to pay the tax, they can either keep Dawson on the roster, or move on from him and sign another free agent before the season begins. The most pressing need at this point would seem to be on the wing, where just Wesley Johnson and Luc Mbah a Moute are present as reliable small forward options.