FILE – Nicolas Batum (40) is returning to the Los Angeles Clippers, with the workforce signing the veteran ahead together with guard Kevin Porter Jr., Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (AP Photograph/David Zalubowski, File)
LOS ANGELES — Nicolas Batum is returning to the Los Angeles Clippers, with the workforce signing the veteran ahead together with ahead Derrick Jones Jr. and guard Kevin Porter Jr. on Wednesday.
Batum performed in 60 video games for the Clippers and Philadelphia 76ers final season, averaging 5.3 factors, 4.1 rebounds and a couple of.1 assists. He was a part of the commerce that introduced James Harden to the Clippers.
Harden, who was a free agent, acquired a two-year deal that features a participant possibility. The Clippers formally introduced Wednesday that he was staying.
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Batum, a 35-year-old Frenchman, is one in every of seven energetic NBA gamers with 10,000 factors, 5,000 rebounds and 1,500 3-pointers. He was reluctant to depart the Clippers, having credited coach Tyronn Lue with saving his profession.
“It’s onerous to discover a higher connector with the next IQ than Nico,” mentioned Lawrence Frank, Clippers president of basketball operations. “We didn’t wish to lose him final 12 months and we felt his absence. He performs the sport the appropriate manner, which our followers respect, and so will we. We’re thrilled to welcome again the battalion.”
Jones averaged a career-high 8.6 factors, 3.3 rebounds and one help in 76 video games for the Dallas Mavericks final season. He additionally began in 22 playoff video games — averaging 9.1 factors, 3.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists — because the Mavs misplaced to the Boston Celtics within the NBA Finals.
Jones, 27, has earlier stints with Phoenix, Miami, Portland and Chicago. He gained the 2020 NBA Slam Dunk contest.
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Porter was inactive with Cleveland in the beginning of the 2020-21 season after an offseason weapons cost, which was later dropped. He was traded to Houston later that season.
In 2023, Porter was charged with felony counts of assault and strangulation after an altercation with a former girlfriend in New York, leading to a commerce to Oklahoma Metropolis. The Thunder waived him instantly and he performed abroad final season.
Porter reached a plea deal on a misdemeanor reckless assault cost in January that requires him to finish a court-ordered program with a view to have his plea modified to not responsible with no felony file.
In Greece, Porter averaged 22 factors, 9.3 rebounds, 6.8 assists and a couple of.8 steals.
The 24-year-old Seattle native performed collegiately at Southern California earlier than being drafted with the thirtieth general decide in 2019.
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Porter has appeared in 196 video games with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets, averaging 15.3 factors, 5.0 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals.
