What the Ivica Zubac signing means for the LA Clippers
After landing Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, the LA Clippers hade just a few orders of business left to take care of, one of which was signing Ivica Zubac.
Free agency appears to be slowing down now that the LA Clippers have made two of the biggest splashes of the summer in signing Kawhi Leonard and trading for Paul George. There were just a few orders of business left for the franchise to take care of, one of which was re-signing free agent big Ivica Zubac.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Zubac and the Clippers have come to terms on a four-year deal worth $28 million. During that time, the 22-year-old center should begin to show the Clippers exactly what kind of player he’ll become during his NBA career.
The Clippers acquired Zubac around the time of this past season’s trade deadline, sending Mike Muscala to the Los Angeles Lakers in order to compete the deal. Since joining the team, he’s posted averages of 9.4 points and 7.7 rebounds in just over 20 minutes of action per game.
A more traditional big, Zubac has yet to implement a three-point shot into his game — though if you’ve been paying close attention to his Instagram page, then you’ve likely seen the videos he’s been sharing of himself working on the shot in practice.
Zubac may be more functional as a floor-spacing big alongside Leonard, George and the rest of the starting rotation, but for the time being, he gets the job done in the paint. This past season, Zubac connected on 64.9 percent of his attempts at the rim. That number will come up once he learns to be more patient under the basket, but for now, it’s a good enough number to warrant him remaining in the starting five. Zu also finished 86.3 percent of his dunk attempts in 2018-2019, making him a strong threat to score if he gets the space to throw one down.
The Clippers will likely continue to play Montrezl Harrell as the primary center off the bench, given his size and chemistry with Lou Williams. But if Zubac were to get bounced to the second unit, he should do well there, too.
Overall, this is a solid deal for the Clippers. They’ll lock up Zubac on a relatively cheap long-term deal, and if he makes any significant improvements during the course of his contract, it’ll look even more like a bargain.
dark. Next. Looking at the LA Clippers roster with Kawhi and PG
With Zubac’s deal out of the way, the LA Clippers can now focus on using their mid-level exception to bring one last contributor back to the bench — free agent forward JaMychal Green.