Update (Friday, 2:35 p.m. ET):Â Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports that the Magic and Davis have completed the buyout.
Clippers in the lead to sign Glen Davis, per report
While the Clippers are frontrunners for Big Baby, several other playoff teams are also vying for his services, including the last two conference champions.
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The Los Angeles Clippers remain in the lead to sign him if he clears waivers on Monday, according to Spears’ colleague, Adrian Wojnarowski, but the Brooklyn Nets are also trying to sell Davis on joining his former Boston Celtics teammate, Kevin Garnett. Brooklyn expects Davis to sign with the Clippers, however, and are prepared to look elsewhere for frontcourt help, reports Sam Amick of USA Today.
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Numerous playoff teams are lining up to make a run at forward Glen Davis, with the Los Angeles Clippers the favorite to sign the big man, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski and Marc Spears.
The Orlando Magic and Davis came to an agreement to buy out the rest of his contract after failing to move him at the deadline. The 28-year-old is being paid $6.4 million this year and is owed $6.6 million next year, and he'll become an unrestricted free agent on Monday once he clears waivers.
While the Clippers are considered the frontrunner for Davis' services, the Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs, Golden State Warriors and Brooklyn Nets all have expressed interest. However, Davis in Los Angeles makes sense because of his prior relationship with Clippers general manager and head coach Doc Rivers.
Davis had been semi-productive for the Magic this season, averaging 12.1 points and 6.3 rebounds. However, the 6’9 forward simply wasn’t a good fit on a rebuilding team. Davis ate up minutes from younger players and was essentially an inefficient mid-range chucker, which made Magic fans weary over the past few seasons. Over at Orlando Pinstriped Post, Tyler Lashbrook explains that this move will be addition by subtraction:
NBA Trade Deadline
His pending buyout is addition by subtraction for the Magic. Tobias Harris, Andrew Nicholson, and Kyle O’Quinn will absorb Davis’ 30 minutes a night and the thought is that the added playing time will help in each young guy’s long-term development. It also gives coach Jacque Vaughn a little more freedom in his rotations: there’s one less big man to worry about, and he now has four big guys to play around. The best case scenario is that he slides Harris to the power forward spot and starts Maurice Harkless at small forward.
But while Davis was a poor fit in Orlando, that doesn't mean he won't be useful playing a smaller role for a contender. For example, it's hard to imagine he would be any worse than what the Clippers have been throwing out there behind Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. In fact, two of the players signed in the offseason to help the Clippers' frontcourt, Antawn Jamison and Byron Mullens, were just traded away before the deadline. Ryan Hollins also isn't all that effective, so Davis could be pretty valuable in Los Angeles. Steve Perrin at Clips Nation certainly believes that to be case:
No other team can offer him a bigger, better defined role -- and Davis would give Rivers the versatile big who can step away from the basket but can also defend that he has been seeking all season. This one is is gift-wrapped for Clips Nation, with a big bow on top.
All of the other teams named could certainly use the frontcourt help as well, but Davis and the Clippers seem like the perfect match.
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