With only 15 spots available on their roster, the Memphis Grizzlies will be forced to waive four players in the near future. Jake Fischer of “The Stein Line” hopped on a live stream for Bleacher Report and mentioned those guys could be: Walter Clayton Jr., Jordan Hawkins, D’Angelo Russell, and Kris Murray. Each of these guys is exceptionally talented, but Memphis has limited room.
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If this happens, the LA Clippers should immediately look to sign Clayton Jr., a first-round pick in the 2025 draft, to a training camp deal to compete for a spot on the roster. He is young, a gifted three-point shooter, an excellent playmaker, and someone the Clippers could really benefit from in the long run, especially given how bleak their future currently looks.
The Clippers should look to sign Walter Clayton Jr. if he ends up becoming available
Coming out of Florida, Walter Clayton Jr. is someone a ton of fans of the LA Clippers wanted to draft. However, he was taken with the 18th overall pick, while the Clippers were hoping he would still be on the board at 31.
A little over a year later, there’s a chance Clayton Jr. hits the open market, and the Clippers should make their pursuit before anyone else can.
As a rookie for the Memphis Grizzlies, where he was traded to at the deadline in a blockbuster move involving Jaren Jackson Jr., Clayton Jr. averaged 9.7 points, 5.7 assists, and 2.1 rebounds in 25.0 minutes across 24 games.
To say the least, those are extremely solid numbers. The kid can score and create for others, which, though the Clippers already have it, wouldn’t hurt to add more.
The long-term outlook: Clayton Jr. is only 23 years old and has shown flashes that, at worst, he can become a high-end role player in the NBA. It will take some development to get there, but reaching that level is certainly possible.
However, in the short term, Clayton Jr. would have to earn his spot on the Clippers’ roster. That means he would have to dominate so well in training camp to the point where the front office must prioritize him over someone they didn’t originally plan on moving on from.
That said, opportunities to add a first-round pick that was just drafted last season don’t come around often. As a result, the Clippers must add Clayton Jr. by any means necessary if the Grizzlies waive him.
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