Brook Lopez agrees to sign with surprising new team

Brook Lopez is ready to embrace his backup era.

The former All-Star big man Lopez has agreed to sign with the LA Clippers as a free agent, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Monday. Lopez is joining the Clippers on a two-year, $18 million deal.

At 37 years old, Lopez had been with the Milwaukee Bucks since 2018. He won a championship with the Bucks in 2021 as their starting center and also made All-Defensive teams in 2020 and 2023. Last season for Milwaukee, Lopez averaged 13.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game.

The Clippers though are a surprising landing spot for Lopez. For one, they have 28-year-old Ivica Zubac, an All-Defensive selection last season himself, firmly entrenched as their starting center. That means that Lopez will be coming off the bench for the Clippers.

That might be the best role for Lopez at this point in his career. He still does very well as a rim protector and as a three-point shooter (hitting on 37.3 percent of his attempts from distance last season). But Lopez has lost a lot of foot speed and is no longer a flexible player to build a defensive scheme around as a 17-year NBA veteran.

Nevertheless, it looked like Lopez might still have some center-needy suitors willing to give him a chance to start, such as this Clippers rival and former team of his. Instead though, the Los Angeles native Lopez is headed home to play on the second unit of the Clippers.