LA Clippers: Complete grades for the 2019 NBA offseason
By Paul Headley
Re-signed Ivica Zubac
Acquired from the Los Angeles Lakers in a perplexing deal that sent Mike Muscala across the hall at Staples, Ivica Zubac put up 9.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per-night in 26 games with the LA Clippers last season.
Re-signed to a four-year, $28 million contract with the last year a team option, $7 million per season is a very fair number for a starting-quality center in the NBA.
Zubac is an offensively dependent player, sure. All that will be required of him in LA will be to set picks, fill the lane and finish when fed. Zubac is an efficient player (60.4 true shooting) who hits his free throws and pummels teams on the glass.
The Clippers grabbed a staggering 78 percent of available defensive rebounds with Zubac on the floor last season. He can defend the rim and block shots at an above average level given his lack of real bounce, averaging a solid 1.8 blocks per-36 minutes.
Zubac was unable to play a lot against the Kevin Durant-led Golden State Warriors in the playoffs last season, but he’ll be a valuable commodity in a post-Warriors world next April.
Nikola Jokic, Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins and Jusuf Nurkic are just some of the big bodies the Clippers might match up with next year, all assignments Montrezl Harrell would be unequipped to deal with.