Clippers, still missing Luke Kennard, re-sign Xavier Moon

Moon’s shot is still ongoing.

The Clippers signed Xavier Moon, the pace, light point guard, to a tough 10-day deal Tuesday on Friday, extending his stay by five games – starting Saturday in San Antonio – as the team awaits the return of Luke Kennard and Justise Winslow.

They have been participating in COVID-19 health and safety protocols since January 1 and 9, respectively. (On Tuesday, the Clippers also re-signed striker Wenyen Gabriel to a second 10-day deal.)

Kennard has missed the past seven games, relegation to cheer his teammates on social media – including Vote for All-Star for Paul George on Twitter. Earlier this week, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said he could not reveal anything about Kennard’s condition except to say he was “remaining within protocols.”

Striker Nicolas Batum has missed nine games after he tested positive for COVID-19 and when he returned, said he was “quite sick.”

Batum was the first of 10 Clippers to have spent time in the protocols – including Moon, whose short time by designation gave him the chance to play in Phoenix with his favorite player. , Chris Paul, on January 6.

On the other hand, since making his NBA debut with the Clippers on December 27, 27-year-old Moon has appeared in six games, scoring 83 minutes, 10 assists, nine rebounds and five steals while shooting 41.2% from the floor and make 3 out of 10 attempts of 3 points.

The 6-foot-2 guard is one of the few Clippers with what Coach Tyronn Lue might call “juice” in another, dry, dramatic effort from the Clippers on Thursday in New Orleans, where the Pelicans beat the Clippers for the third time this season – loss averaging 18.7 points after Thursday’s 113-89 Result.

But in the 14 minutes Moon played on Thursday, the Clippers beat New Orleans by four points. He made four assists and made 3 for 4 from the field, including 2 for 2 from the 3-point range on a night when the Clippers, as a team, shot 38.3% from the floor and 29.4% (10 out of 34) from behind the arc.

Jay Scrubb also finished adding four in the score on Thursday, when the two-way prospect played in the first half of a game for the first time this season.

Scrubb scored the equalizer with 6 from the field – including a strong backhand late in the game.

Are Scrubb’s early minutes indicative of a substantial effort on the part of the Clippers to, like a story on Bleacher Report this week suggests, develop their young players with All-Stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George sidelined through injury and the Clippers – 21-22 – are water skiing around the .500 mark more than half way through the season?