The 32 year old veteran forward gets his wish to stay in Hollywood as Clippers add him to what is an already impressive roster ….
Matt Barnes was a free agent this summer and had publically shown desire to stay put at Los Angeles, very recently. As per the latest reports, it has been confirmed that he is going nowhere. However, he will not be adorning the
purple and yellow of the Los Angeles Lakers but will rather play for the other Staples Center inhabitants.
The announcement came on Friday and Barnes has got a one-year deal for a veteran’s minimum of $1.2 million.
The small forward spent the past two seasons with the Lakers, where he was mainly used off the bench. He had knee surgery mid-way during the 2011 season, which was followed by an ankle injury last season, only to suffer from another
serious injury to his neck. But despite the setbacks, he managed to average 7.8 points and 5.5 rebounds for the Lakers last season and was the best bench player for them.
Over the course of his career, Barnes has managed an average of 7.3 points, 4.5 rebounds which is very acceptable for a role player who only plays around 21.3 minutes in each game. Barnes however has knack of getting involved in
disciplinary issue, and his behaviour, on and off the court, has not been ideal to say the least.
With the Lakers looking to knit a new team together next season, they never offered Barnes a deal. That could also been due to the financial crunch after the signing of Steve Nash and Dwight Howard.
The Clippers were keeping a keen eye on the situation and emerged forth with a deal at just the right time. This will be Barnes’ second stint with the Clippers with the earlier one coming back in 2004 when he came in as a rookie
free-agent. From the Clippers point of view, the addition of Barnes to their roster caps of an impressive summer, and gives them more options at the wings. The deal also sees a reunion of two former Lakers, the other one being Lamar Odom.
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