The Los Angeles Clippers will need to move one more player in order to meet the league maximum fifteen roster spots.
After trading away Sam Dekker to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Los Angeles Clippers are still sitting at 16 players on their roster. In order to meet the NBA maximum number of roster spots, the team will have to move one more player.
Who are the likely candidates? Let’s take a look.
Clippers now have 16 man roster, one above NBA maximum. Must shed one more contract. Though Clippers have 15 guaranteed contracts.
— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) August 5, 2018
Milos Teodosic
Milos Teodosic would have been the ideal candidate a few weeks ago, after he opted into his deal. Teodosic could have been waived prior to July 15th and his contract would have only been partially guaranteed. That date came and went, so it seems evident that the team plans on using him as either trade bait or as part of their rotation.
With only this year left on his contract, he may be more valuable towards the trade deadline then now, so it makes sense that the Clippers will hold onto him.
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Wesley Johnson
Wesley Johnson, like Teodosic, opted in to the final year of his deal. Johnson hasn’t been extremely productive during his time with the Clippers, but could be seen as an asset for a team that lacks small forward depth.
With the Clippers signing both Mike Scott and Luc Mbah a Moute this summer, Johnson likely won’t see much playing time, if any at all. The Clips already thinned out the small forward position some with the Dekker trade, so Johnson might be needed for his physical versatility in a pinch.
Jawun Evans
In my opinion, Jawun Evans is the likely candidate to be moved next. While he is a tenacious defender and surprised a lot of people in his rookie season, Jawun just seems to be the odd man out. The team not only drafted, but traded future picks to get Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the draft this summer. He’s obviously going to be the guard of the future.
Pair that fact with the number of guards on the Clippers’ roster and it’s hard to make a case for keeping Jawun aside from his youth.
Waiving Jawun wouldn’t be the end of the world, but ideally he could be flipped to a bad team who would be interested in taking a flier on him.