NBA Free Agency: Luc Mbah a Moute Signs with Rockets

Luc Mbah a Moute was one of Doc Rivers’ best signings as President of the Clippers, and probably brought in the greatest value per-dollar. Luc played in 155 regular season games of 164 over the past two seasons, starting in 137 of them. A defensive maestro, Luc was a key piece for the Clippers as their only reasonable option against top wing scorers. While he averaged only 6.1 points per game in the 2016-2017 season, he was a legitimate All-Defense caliber player, and his hustle and defense will be sorely missed.

Sadly, the Clippers’ acquisitions of Danilo Gallinari and Sam Dekker seemed to block much of the opportunity for playing time for Luc if he returned, especially considering the Clippers also want to give minutes to their younger forwards— Montrezl Harrell and Brice Johnson. With all those players needing minutes at small forward and power forward, Luc’s future with the Clippers appeared cloudy, despite reports they were still discussing terms with him as recently as a couple days ago.

Now Luc is gone, off to Houston, where he will rejoin Chris Paul. Luc is not going to start there either, but the Rockets have desperate need of depth, and Luc will probably see more playing time there than he would have received in LA. Unfortunately for him, his salary is not increasing much, as the reported contract with the Rockets is for a minimum-level deal. His decision to bet on himself and opt out of his deal didn’t work, though the Rockets are going to be better than the Clippers this season, so he might have more of a chance for a deep playoff run.

Good luck to Luc, one of the Clippers’ better role players of the Chris Paul era. He played hard for the Clippers, played well for the Clippers, and will be remembered fondly. Rockets or no, he will always be our Prince.