There are three players the LA Clippers should work to re-sign.
The LA Clippers enter the offseason with some questions about their roster. There are two main points of concern for the team to address: the point guard position and the center position. While making deals or adding players through free agency are both probably necessary this offseason, they also have to worry about taking care of their own players.
The Clippers have six players entering free agency this offseason:
- Marcus Morris
- Montrezl Harrell
- JaMychal Green
- Reggie Jackson
- Patrick Patterson
- Johnathan Motley
Of those, I think the team should only truly worry about re-signing three of them.
Patrick Patterson
First on the list and likely the easiest to bring back is Patrick Patterson. Pat Pat played spot minutes for the team all season but when he did, he was able to contribute. Most notably, Doc Rivers used him against Anthony Davis in the regular season to which Patterson played decently.
He appeared in 59 games, starting 18 for the team. He only averaged 13.2 minutes but put up a respectable 4.9 point on 40.8% shooting (39% from deep), 2.6 rebounds, and 0.7 assists. Those stats won’t blow you away but as far as an end of the bench piece, teams could do a lot worse.
Patterson is 31 and probably isn’t going to get a ton of offers. He was brought in to be a stable presence and because he is close friends with Paul George. Assuming PG isn’t going anywhere and that the team intends to re-sign him after next season, keeping Patterson around only makes sense.
The Clippers should and likely will “prioritize” re-signing Patterson. I use quotation marks around prioritize because I don’t expect the team to offer him more than a veteran’s minimum which they can do at any point during free agency without it affecting anything except the hard cap. The team might agree to terms with him quickly but not officially sign the paperwork until they have made other moves.