LA Clippers reportedly sign free agent wing Jamel Artis to non-guaranteed deal
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the LA Clippers have reportedly signed free agent wing Jamel Artis to a partially guaranteed deal.
With the roster deadline less than a week away, the LA Clippers have reportedly made a puzzling move to sign free agent wing Jamel Artis, despite being multiple players over the limit. Shams Charania was the first to break the news on Twitter, citing that Artis’ deal is partially guaranteed.
Artis, 25, made his NBA debut last December for the Orlando Magic. The previously undrafted rookie appeared in 15 games for Orlando last season as one of the franchise’s first two-way players. Artis finished the season with the Magic, going for a season-high 18 points on April 4.
Artis posted averages of 5.1 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game in his rookie season, shooting just below 28 percent from three-point range. According to basketball reference, he spent almost equal amounts of time at the shooting guard and small forward positions.
It’s hard to be sure of the reasoning behind this signing. As previously mentioned, the LA Clippers still need to make roster cuts, some of which likely won’t be easy decisions.
Yesterday, the Clippers officially waived forward Desi Rodriguez from the preseason roster. It’s possible that this could have been to allow for Artis to make his debut for Los Angeles tomorrow night against Maccabi Haifa, and eventually move him to the Agua Caliente Clippers, presumably with Rodriguez. However, it’s also possible that the Clippers intend to keep Artis on the NBA roster all season.
In that case, surely one or more additional wings would have to be cut ahead of next week’s deadline. Wesley Johnson, Mike Scott, and Sindarius Thornwell could all be on the hot seat.
It’s also worth noting that the LA Clippers are reportedly looking to trade some of their players, as opposed to waiving them, in order to avoid eating any unnecessary salary. Real GM’s Keith Smith reported this earlier today via Twitter:
Sources: The Los Angeles Clippers are actively looking for trades for their back-end roster players vs waiving them. LA had hoped they might solve the roster logjam through a trade for Jimmy Butler where they sent out more players than they took back, but that seems unlikely now.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) October 10, 2018
Based on this information, it seems safe to assume that Artis could also be included in any deal the front office intends to make ahead of next week’s regular season opener against the Denver Nuggets.
The signing puts the Clippers right back up to 20 men on their roster, with three players still needing to be removed.
Update: According to the LA Times’ Andrew Greif, Artis is close to signing an Exhibit 10 contract with Los Angeles. The deal is non-guaranteed, and would pay Artis a salary of $50,000 if he stays with the Agua Caliente Clippers for 60 days.
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Sounds as though the Clippers made this move to buff out their G-League roster, and give themselves another two-way option to look at once the contracts of Angel Delgado and Johnathan Motley expire.