With roster spots still open, it’s now rumored that the LA Clippers, among others, have interest in veteran guard Jodie Meeks.
As the NBA season draws closer, the LA Clippers still have a couple of roster spots open. According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, the team may look to use one of those roster spots on veteran guard Jodie Meeks.
Free agent guard Jodie Meeks, fresh off a championship with the Raptors, has drawn interest from the Clippers and Hornets, league sources tell ESPN. A career 37.3 percent 3-point shooter, he shot 44.4 percent from 3 in spot duty with Toronto.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) August 12, 2019
The 6’4″ guard has been an NBA journeyman, with stops in Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Los Angeles (with the Lakers), Detroit, Orlando and Washington. Most recently, he appeared in 9 games for the Toronto Raptors last season with another 14 appearances for them in the playoffs.
Meeks was not a major contributor, putting up just 6.4 points in his regular season appearances and 1.6 points during the playoffs. Yeah, those scoring numbers are paltry, but it’s worth noting that when he did shoot, he was pretty darn accurate.
In the 8 regular season games for the Raptors, he shot 53.8% from the field, including 44.4% from deep on 2.3 attempts. In the playoffs, the shooting percentages were nowhere near as good (31.0% from the field and 15.4% from deep), but were on substantially lower attempts.
Meeks would offer another veteran presence for the Clippers and would be some insurance if one of the team’s guards was to go down. He may also be good for early season depth, especially if the reports of Paul George missing the first six weeks end up being true. As an end of the bench guy, he makes sense.
Yes, the Clippers will need to address other holes later in the season, specifically at the center and wing depth, but to start the year it’s easy to understand why the interest in Meeks is there. There’s also the Kawhi Leonard factor.
The Clips are desperate to do anything possible to make Kawhi enjoy his experience with the team, so if he has indicated Meeks is someone he would like to have around after their time together in Toronto, it makes sense that the front office would go after him.
As it stands right now, Meeks joining the team is just a rumor. Make sure to keep checking back here for all future signings and LA Clippers’ news and opinions!