The regular season opener is less than four days away for the LA Clippers, and fans are counting down the hours until they can step foot in Intuit Dome for the first ever regular season contest at the team's new arena. Regardless of circumstances surrounding Kawhi Leonard's health and other uncertainties, there is still plenty to be excited about as a new era of Clippers basketball begins.
As the final hours before the season tick down, the front office is working to finalize the Clippers' roster. Training camp and preseason gave the coaching staff plenty of time to evaluate the players they have to work with, and roster cuts are being made. LA's full roster for the regular season must be finalized by Monday afternoon at 2:00 PM PT.
On Saturday, it was announced that the Clippers had made four cuts to the roster, along with a key addition: Tosan Evbuomwan, Elijah Harkless, Braxton Key and Alondes Williams were all officially waived. In addition, Kai Jones was converted from an exhibit-10 deal to a two-way contract.
Kai Jones has claimed the Clippers' final two-way spot
Clippers reporter for The Athletic Law Murray made it clear that all four players who were waived are expected to have a shot at competing with the San Diego Clippers in the G League this coming season, provided they are not afforded a standard or two-way contract with another NBA team. As for Kai Jones, he earns LA's final two-way spot, bringing the roster to 18 players.
For clarification, 18 is the number the roster must be set at when the regular season begins, so it would appear this will be the final version of what this Clippers team will look like in 2024-25. 15 players are rostered full-time, while Jordan Miller, Trentyn Flowers and Kai Jones will be playing on two-way deals.
This will be a huge opportunity for Jones, who just a year ago had departed from the Charlotte Hornets and had a very uncertain future ahead of him. He will now have a guaranteed spot on this team, with roster changes potentially on the way soon. P.J. Tucker will enter the season still on the Clippers' roster, but the team is likely still looking for ways to send him elsewhere.
Should Lawrence Frank find a new home for P.J., it is possible Miller or Jones could be converted to a standard contract, given all that they have accomplished to this point. In any event, Clippers fans can now know exactly what their team's roster will look like in this exciting new year.