Clippers Adding Rui Hachimura On Two-Year Deal

Hachimura and agent Darren Matsubara reached an understanding with the Clippers early in free agency, per Charania (Twitter link), who states that they were hoping to work out a sign-and-trade, but the Lakers weren’t in position to cooperate, given their other offseason moves.

Hachimura’s new deal will include a team option for the second season, according to Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter links). Murray also reports that Hachimura was on Luka Doncic‘s list of players that he wanted to keep, but the Lakers weren’t able to match the Clippers’ offer after prioritizing Walker Kessler, Sandro Mamukelashvili, and Quentin Grimes.

Hachimura moves across town after spending the last three and a half seasons with the Lakers. He appeared in 68 games this season (41 starts), averaging 11.5 points and 3.3 rebounds in 28.3 minutes per night and shooting 51.4% from the field and 44.3% from three-point range.

Staying in Los Angeles was a priority for Hachimura, according to Marc Stein of The Stein Line, who tweets that the 28-year-old chose the Clippers after receiving interest from the Nets, Mavericks, Warriors, and Timberwolves. The Spurs and Trail Blazers also had interest, a source tells Sam Amick of The Athletic (Twitter link).

According to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link), the Clippers will use their non-taxpayer mid-level exception to add Hachimura, which means the team will operate over the cap rather than under it. However, that doesn’t rule out a potential sign-and-trade pursuit of Nuggets restricted free agent Peyton Watson, Fischer adds.

As Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron tweets, the Clippers could make a competitive offer for Watson by looping him into the sign-and-trade that will send John Collins to Detroit. However, L.A. would need to incentivize Denver with assets of some sort in order to get the Nuggets to play ball.