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The rest of the NBA is going through varying degrees of roster churn, but the Clippers seem fully content with the stable of players they currently have. According to Andrew Greif of the LA Times, LA guaranteed the contracts of Patrick Beverley and Tyrone Wallace today, meaning the team has 15 fully-guaranteed contracts to go along with its two 2-way deals.
Just in case there were any questions, the contracts of Clippers guards Pat Beverley and Ty Wallace will become guaranteed for the remainder of the season later today, a source told @latimessports. Never much doubt about that.
— Andrew Greif (@AndrewGreif) January 7, 2019
As Greif notes, there was no indication that the Clippers would part ways with either Beverley or Wallace, but their contracts — and thus, their salaries — will now be fully paid for the 2018-19 season.
NBA teams were officially allowed to sign players to 10-day contracts starting on January 5, but LA won’t have any open roster spots unless they choose to waive a player. Beverley and Wallace are unlikely candidates for that designation, though there is always the curious case of Milos Teodosic, who has fallen out of the rotation and has expressed some interest in returning to Europe.
The deadline to sign players to 2-way deals is also fast approaching on January 15, though again, the team doesn’t have space to sign any of those contracts. Thus far, the Clippers have given fewer NBA minutes to their 2-way players than any other team except the Dallas Mavericks; only Johnathan Motley has seen action outside the G-League, both short stints coming in garbage time of LA’s last two games.
The Clippers cycled through 21 players last season, as injuries forced them to fill out their roster in several creative ways. They have fortunately had no such difficulties this year, and today’s announcements ensure that their roster transactions will continue to be as normal and drama-free as possible.
In other slightly more intriguing news, head coach Doc Rivers invited another one of his recently-fired former assistants to spend some of his newfound free time with the Clippers, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
Doc Rivers said that he has extended an invite to Tom Thibodeau to visit with the Clippers and he expects Thibs to be around the team at some point in a similar capacity to Ty Lue.
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) January 7, 2019
It’s unclear what influence, if any, Thibodeau would have on Rivers or the team, but during this current front office’s tenure, LA has shown an interest in having as many smart basketball minds around the team as possible. There is always something to learn.