LA Clippers: Nicolas Batum reportedly staying, major win for Clips’ future

The LA Clippers have reportedly come to terms with Nicolas Batum on a two-year deal, with a player option for the second year.

Batum was a huge piece for the Clippers’ historic run last season, consistently playing good defense while shooting very well.

It’s not even just the fact that he signed with the Clips that’s huge, but the fact that the Clips can still use their $5.9 million taxpayer MLE, as Andrew Greif of the LA Times pointed out.

Nicolas Batum’s deal with the LA Clippers sets the team up to have success this offseason.

The LA Clippers finding a way to sign Nicolas Batum while still being in possession of the MLE means that there’s a higher chance that they can re-sign Reggie Jackson.

Either that, or maybe they could end up acquiring a DeMar DeRozan-type player, who originally seemed to be a little bit of a pipe dream for the Clips.

Regardless of what they use the saved money on, it’s a huge help for the team this offseason. The team was already in a tough spot when it came to money.

They could not re-sign their most expensive free agent in Kawhi Leonard and still be over the cap.

This move for Batum surely helps the Clippers this season, as he’s very valuable in small lineups. And as previously mentioned, he’s a great shooter (40.4% from deep last season) and defender. But what’s better about this move is that it makes an impact on the rest of this offseason, and giving him a player option to stay next year is nice too.

I see no issue with wanting him to stay around if he wants to. He’s getting older, but he’s not playing like it.

I’m excited to see what the Clippers can do with this new information surrounding the MLE. Batum not only makes us a better team on paper, but his contract is giving us a chance to go after another piece.