After the departure of JaMychal Green, the LA Clippers have a few strong pitches to try to secure a signing from Serge Ibaka.
We’re into day two of Free Agency, and so far the LA Clippers have had more subtraction than addition. With the loss of JaMychal Green especially, alongside Trezz leaving, there’s a hole at backup big man. Naturally, fans want to see the team sign Serge Ibaka, probably the best attainable big on the market.
The issue is, there’s many teams out there who would love to have Serge. A seven footer who can shoot and play solid defense is always in demand. So the Clippers need to differentiate themselves and make Serge believe that his best option is signing here. There are three pitches that I think can do that.
LA Clippers Pitch #1 to Serge Ibaka: The Possible Contract
The first pitch will be, naturally, about the money. The LA Clippers have access to the full Mid-Level Exception, which could give Serge Ibaka as much as 4 years/~$40 Million (actually something like $39.8 Million, to be exact).
Compare that to the contract that the Brooklyn Nets, the other name you hear the most when it comes to pursing Serge. They only have access to the taxpayer mini-MLE, which is shorter and for less money. Their max offer will be 3 years/$18 Million.
That’s a lot of money to leave on the table. When you consider that Serge is going into his age 31 season, he can’t take it for granted that that kind of money will be available to him when he’s 34 or 35 years old.
Of course, the Raptors could offer him more by using his Bird Rights. But it’s hard to see them being a serious title contender without something changing in the next few years, so he would be choosing more money to play for a team that’s probably not a contender.
With us, it isn’t a case where he’s choosing between more money to play for a rebuilding team or less to play for a contender. The LA Clippers should leverage the fact that he can play for a contender and make more than double the money to try to seal the deal.