Los Angeles Clippers, Austin Rivers Agree To 3-Year, $35 Million Deal

The Clippers have signed Austin Rivers to a three-year deal, signifying the end of the Kevin Durant chase.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, the Los Angeles Clippers and shooting guard Austin Rivers have come to an agreement on a three-year deal worth a little more than $35 million.

The signing of Austin, the son of Clippers head coach Doc Rivers, comes after he achieved his most successful NBA campaign to date.

The 23-year-old played in 67 games last season for his father’s Clippers, averaging career-highs in points (8.9), three-point field goal percentage (33.5 percent), and overall field goal percentage (43.8 percent).

Rivers also tied his career-best in turnovers per game, averaging only 0.9 per contest over the season.

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It has been an active offseason thus far for the Clippers, who held a meeting with Kevin Durant at the opening of the NBA free agency period on July 1.

The Clippers were considered long shots to land Durant this summer, but came away encouraged following their meeting last Friday, according to ESPN’s Chris Broussard.

However, with the Clippers now locking up Rivers for the next three seasons, there are signs that the team may be out of the KD sweepstakes.

In fact, according to Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times, the team has already been informed by Durant’s representatives that he will not be joining the Clippers.

With Durant out, the Clippers have now turned their attention towards retaining role players off of last year’s team. In addition to signing Austin Rivers, the team has reached out to veteran Jamal Crawford about potentially re-signing.

Even at 36, it appears that Crawford has plenty left in the tank following a season in which he earned his third Sixth Man of the Year Award. Crawford averaged 14.2 points per game on 40.4 percent shooting overall (34.0 percent from three) in 79 appearances last season.

However, it appears that although the Clippers have made an offer, it was not to Crawford’s liking. According to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, the deal that the Clips presented will “very likely lead to him leaving.”

There is still time for the team and Crawford’s representatives to find equal footing, but as of now it appears that Crawford will end up elsewhere at the start of next season.

Another wing option that the Clippers were intent on keeping at the start of free agency was forward Wesley Johnson.

Unlike with Crawford, the Clippers and Johnson were able to come to an agreement for him to return on a three-year deal worth $18 million, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical.

In 80 games with the Clippers last season, Johnson averaged 6.9 points and 3.1 rebounds on 40.4 percent shooting from the floor.

While it was not his most productive season as a professional, Johnson was still able to establish himself as a strong role player and adequate defender on a Clippers team that was very good prior to suffering greatly from the injury bug towards the end of the season.

While the Clippers were unable to land Kevin Durant, Doc Rivers and the rest of the front office chose to bring back meaningful players from last year’s team.

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The Jamal Crawford situation has the potential to make or break the offseason for the Clippers, so close attention will need to be paid to the Clippers throughout the rest of free agency to see how they fare moving forward.