NBA Free Agency: Clippers re-sign Ivica Zubac to four-year, $28 million deal

According to Adrain Wojnarowski, the Clippers have reached an agreement with restricted free agent center Ivica Zubac to stay in L.A. on a four-year, $28 million contract.

This is, frankly, a fair bit more than I thought LAC would have to shell out to keep Zubac this summer, but since it has no ramification on their cap room to process the Kawhi Leonard and Paul George additions, it’s hard to be too upset. It’s hard to be upset at all on a day like today.

The Clippers acquired Zubac from the Los Angeles Lakers in February for Mike Muscala (no, literally). He made 26 appearances for the Clippers, starting in 25 of them and averaging 9.4 points and 7.7 rebounds in just 20 minutes per night. Despite his solid performances, Zubac was relatively unplayable for the Clippers in the post-season against the Golden State Warriors, who have a smaller lineup. However, the Clippers’ road through the Western Conference next year goes through teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, Utah Jazz, and Denver Nuggets. That means there’s likely to be at least one playoff series where LAC needs a big-bodied center to go up against the likes of Anthony Davis, Rudy Gobert, or Nikola Jokic.

Four years and $28 million is a steep price, but I wonder if the Clippers may have given Zubac a higher annual salary in exchange for a longer deal. If the front office believes in him as a starter long-term, then this deal will look phenomenal down the road as the Clippers secure a starter for just $7M a year.

Welcome back, Zu.