The Clippers continue to shape up their roster, this time agreeing to bring back one of their own free agents.
Free-agent Matt Barnes agreed Friday to a deal allowing the small forward to return to the team.
This caps a busy week for the Clippers after getting Chris Paul to agree to re-sign on Tuesday and doing a trade on Wednesday to acquire J.J. Redick from the Milwaukee Bucks and Jared Dudley from the Phoenix Suns.
Barnes will sign a three-year deal worth about $11 million, said NBA executives who were not authorized to speak publicly on the negotiations. The first two years of the contract will be guaranteed, the executives said.
Barnes announced Friday on his Twitter account, @Matt_Barnes22, that he was returning.
The Clippers used part of the $5.1-million mid-level exception on Barnes, and it probably means they won’t be able to sign free-agent power forward Carl Landry, who walked away from a $4-million contract next season from the Golden State Warriors and was seeking at least that much in a new deal.
The Clippers still have an interest in Lamar Odom, but he’ll probably make much less than the $8 million he earned last season. The Clippers probably are looking to offer Odom the veteran minimum of $1.399 million for a player with 10-plus years of experience.
Barnes, 33, can’t sign his contract until Wednesday, the day the NBA lifts its free-agent moratorium.
“Matt will compete,” one NBA executive said. “That’s why the Clippers wanted him back.”
Barnes probably will come off the bench for the Clippers, and Dudley, whom the Clippers acquired from the Suns in the Eric Bledsoe–Caron Butler trade, probably will be the team’s starting small forward.
Barnes, who came off the bench last year with the Clippers, averaged a career-high 10.3 points last season in 80 games. He also shot 34.2% from three-point range, the second-highest percentage of his 10-year career.
The 6-7, 226-pound Barnes averaged 25.7 minutes last season and is known as one of the NBA’s better wing defenders.
Barnes was one of the few bright spots for the Clippers in Game 6 of the Western Conference first-round series against the Memphis Grizzlies, scoring a playoff career-high 30 points as the Clippers were eliminated.
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