LA Clippers: 3 reasons the Clips should re-sign Nic Batum
By Evan Desai
Nic Batum is one of seven 2021 free agents for the LA Clippers.
Batum is a solid player, and should be brought back to the Clippers next year.
This year, his contract only cost the Clippers $2,564,753. It’s unclear how much he’ll cost for next year, but there are three specific reasons the Clippers need to do whatever they can to keep him around.
#1 reason the Clippers should re-sign Nic Batum: His value in small lineups
Whenever the Clippers have needed to go small in the postseason, Batum was there.
They’ve called on him to guard Maverick big men at times in this series, as opposed to having a center in at all times, and the results were successful.
When Luka Doncic was successfully drawing Ivica Zubac to switch onto him, Ty Lue subbed in Batum to guard the bigs so that if a switch was needed, Batum and Kawhi would be the options to switch onto Doncic.
There have been plenty of times where that method really worked, and Batum eventually earned himself a starting spot in the series. Offensively, Batum being out there in small-ball situations has forced Maverick bigs such as Kristaps Porzingis to come out from underneath the basket and guard the perimeter.
That took the Mavericks out of their element a little bit, and drew some better matchups for the Clippers. Batum can play both spots on the wing, and the role of a smaller number four.
His versatility is something a lot of teams can use in today’s NBA, and the Clippers should bring it back for another year.