After losing Hartenstein, Clippers pick up Brown
The Clippers went out last season and found a young, relatively unproven backup at center, and it went so well they weren't able to retain Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency.
The 7-foot German lefty left for the New York Knicks, taking them up on a $16.7 million, two-year offer and leaving the Clippers in need of a Hart replacement. And so L.A. has brought in free-agent center Moses Brown, signing him to a training camp contract along with returning two-way guards Xavier Moon and Jay Scrubb.
Moon was a 27-year-old rookie last season, arriving with much international experience following stops in France, England, Israel and Canada. He parlayed three 10-day hardship deals into a two-way contract to finish the season, playing 10 games and averaging 5.8 points, 2.8 assists and shooting 49% from the field.
He and Scrubb are competing for one of the Clippers' two-way contracts, with the other expected to be filled by second-round pick Moussa Diabate.
Scrubb played in 18 games last season and averaged 2.7 points before he underwent surgery to repair the plantar plate in his right foot. Surgery on his right foot also sidelined him as a rookie the previous season, when he appeared in just four games.
Brown entered the market as an unrestricted free agent after the Cavaliers opted not to issue the former UCLA big man a qualifying offer worth $2,076,674.
Like Hartenstein, who'd played on three teams in three seasons before joining the Clippers, Brown – who wasn't drafted – has ricocheted around the league since his 2019 debut, playing for Portland, Oklahoma City, Dallas and Cleveland.
In 92 games, the 7-foot-2, 22-year-old center has career averaged 6 points and 5.8 rebounds.
Recall: He had a 24-point, 18-rebound, seven-block game against the Clippers in the
Moses Brown, who played last season for the Cavaliers, has signed a training camp contract with the Clippers.
2020-21 regular-season finale, in which Daniel Oturu played 37 minutes in a loss that secured a fourth-seed matchup against Dallas in the playoffs.
The Clippers have an opening on their 15man roster and need a backup behind starter Ivica Zubac, who they re-signed and gave a raise this offseason with a three-year, $33 million contract.
With their Summer League schedule opening today in Las Vegas against Memphis, they also have both of their two-way spots to fill, although second-round draft pick Moussa Diabate is slated to get one of them.
In his season at UCLA, Brown — a native New Yorker — was inconsistent, but he had some memorable moments in 2018-19, when UCLA coach Steve Alford suggested that Brown, then 7-1, might still be growing and had “his best basketball ahead of him.”
In his Bruins debut, he led them to a 96–71 win over Purdue Fort Wayne with 19 points on 9-of-10 shooting, 17 rebounds and a dunk so vicious his contact lens came loose. A few games later, Brown posted 23 points and 14 rebounds in a 95–58 win over Saint Francis, against whom he nearly had a triple-double with eight blocks in 29 minutes before checking out for the last time with six minutes left.