NBA says teams can sign free agents starting Aug. 6
If Clippers fans are going to stress about free agency this summer, they’ve now got dates to circle on the calendar in anticipation for when they might feel their most anxious.
The NBA announced Monday that teams can begin negotiating with free agents at 3 p.m. PT on Aug. 2 and that they’ll be able to begin signing players at 9:01 p.m. PT on Aug. 6.
Clippers star Kawhi Leonard is likely to be the best player in this summer’s freeagent class. The five-time All-Star and two-time NBA Finals MVP has a player option following this season, but he expects that he’ll decline it, he said shortly before this season began.
He cautioned then that such a decision would be purely financial and not something to read into, one way or the other. Without opting out, his player option would be worth $36 million next season, when he’ll be 30. Alternately, the multi-faceted wing from Moreno Valley stands to make as much as $39.3 million next season if he signs a new deal, which could be for as long as four seasons, per ESPN’s salary cap expert Bobby Marks.
“Just for my situation right now, I’m just focused on this season,” Leonard said in December. “Not saying I’m going anywhere else or staying here, but I’m just focused on the season. Obviously, if I’m healthy, the best decision is to decline the player option, but that doesn’t mean I’m leaving or staying.
“I’m focused on the season, like I said. We’ll talk about that when the time is right.”
The results, so far, this season: Leonard is averaging 25.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, a career-best 5.1 assists, and 1.7 steals per game.
And the Clippers, entering play tonight in Portland, are 40-19 and currently seeded third in the Western Conference.
Yogi’s on board
The Clippers announced Monday that they signed 6-foot free agent combo guard Yogi Ferrell to a 10day contract, as was expected once he cleared the necessary coronavirus health and protocols.
Without starting guard Patrick Beverley, who had surgery on his fractured hand on April 9, Ferrell will provide depth behind veteran guards Reggie Jackson and Rajon Rondo.
The 27-year-old also had a 10-day deal in January with Cleveland, for whom he played two games and averaged 9.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals.
Previously, the Clippers signed rookie guard Malik Fitts to a 10-day deal on April 9 before they signed veteran center DeMarcus Cousins to a second 10-day contract on April 16.
Since going undrafted in 2016 out of Indiana, Ferrell has played for the Brooklyn Nets and their G League affiliate, and for the Dallas
Mavericks, the Sacramento Kings, the Cleveland Cavaliers and, this past shortened G League season, he played for the Utah Jazz’s Salt Lake City Stars.
He has career averages of 7.8 points, 2.3 assists and 2.1 rebounds in 251 NBA games.
Shooting for records
The Clippers welcomed fans back inside Staples Center on Sunday night by hitting a season-high 21 3-pointers in their 124-105 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. It was the third time this season — and just the seventh time in franchise history — that they’d made at least 20 in a game.
But that’s not enough for Reggie Jackson, it seems.
“We work tremendously hard at shooting the ball, so hopefully we can break that record if we continue to share the ball like that,” said Jackson, who went 3 for 5 from long range Sunday and is one of nine Clippers shooting better than 40% from deep this season, knocking down 3-pointers at a careerbest 43.3% rate.
The Clippers’ record for most 3-point baskets in a game is 25, established last season in the Florida bubble during a 126-103 victory over New Orleans.
Milwaukee’s 29 3-pointers in a 144-97 victory over Miami in December 2020 is the NBA record for most in a game.
Furthermore, the Clippers are shooting 42.1% from the arc as a team and flirting with the 1996-97 Hornets’ NBA record seasonlong shooting percentage of 42.8%.