Clippers Waive Luc Mbah a Moute

The Clippers announced today that they’ve waived forward Luc Mbah a Moute, who has missed all but the first four games of the 2018-2019 NBA season with an injured knee. Mbah a Moute recently had surgery on the knee, ruling him out for the remainder of the season.

The NBA has a deadline to waive players on expiring deals, and that deadline, not coincidentally, was 2 PM PT today. With Luc out for the rest of the season, and his locker room, veteran presence not as needed on a team as stable and close as this Clippers’ team is, the waiver makes sense.

The question now is what the Clippers do to fill the 14th spot on their roster (the minimum is 13, but only for a short period of time to get back to 14). The simplest solution would be to convert one of their two-way players (Johnathan Motley or Angel Delgado) to a regular NBA contract, which would also more easily allow the Clips to bring them back next year. If they think they still need some wing depth (the Chandler/Jerome/Sindarius minutes have been tough all year), there are surely some veteran guys out there who could provide a handful of minutes if need be.

For Luc, this season was a huge disappointment after a really great 2017-2018 campaign with the Rockets. He played two seasons with the latter Lob City Clippers from 2015-2017, and was a key piece for those teams as a wing stopper. Unfortunately, injuries hit him at the end of last season, and he was beset by different ones this season, preventing him from ever returning after a strong, early start. Hopefully Luc is able to get healthy this summer, and can return to an NBA team next year. Farewell, sweet Prince!