The 33-year-old French international will decline his $3.3 million option for 2022-23 with the Clippers. That doesn’t mean he won’t stay in LA, though.
Nicolas Batum will be part of the batch of “free agents” this summer. Perhaps not for long, nor to go very far… According to ESPN , the 33-year-old French international winger, Clippers player for two years, will decline his option at $ 3.3 million for the 2022-23 season. Clearly, he will be free to commit where he wishes this summer. But everything already suggests that its future will continue to be written in the City of Angels. “There is expected to be mutual interest from the Clippers and Batum to strike a new deal in July“Slips Adrian Wojnarowski, leaving little room for doubt.
Passed by Portland (2008-15) and Charlotte (2015-20) before LA, Batum, comes out of a season with 8.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists (59 matches, 54 starts). A delicate 2021-22 campaign on a collective level due to the physical glitches of the two stars of the Californian franchise, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Eighth in the West at the end of the regular season (42v-40d), the Clips were eliminated in play-in by the New Orleans Pelicans. “Without the play-in, we would be in the play-offs, but there is nothing to criticize this format, where we simply did not do the job. But it’s good that we come out frustrated“, launched the Normand a few weeks ago, in an interview granted to The Team .
Interview during which Batum spoke of the Clippers in the future, without mentioning this famous option which is in question here. “The 2022-23 season has already started for us. We know we can play the title“, he said, suggesting that he would spend his last two seasons with the pros with the LA club before bowing out at the Paris Olympics in 2024 with the France team.
Two more years on the court
Remember that Nicolas Batum has already announced that he will skip Euro 2022 (September 1-18; Germany, Italy, Georgia and the Czech Republic), like Nando De Colo. “I want to play another two years and ideally, it would be: go far with the Clippers, World Cup (from August 25 to September 10, 2022 in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines, editor’s note), still go far with the Clippers, then Games Paris Olympics and end my career there. To chain all this, non-stop, I want to prepare myself as well as possible“, justified the man with 155 caps and six medals in Blue, including gold at the 2013 European Championship in Slovenia and silver last summer at the Tokyo Olympics. Unlike Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, Ronny Turiaf, Ian Mahinmi, Rodrigue Beaubois and Axel Toupane, he is not part of the French NBA champions club. Not yet ?
At most, Nicolas Batum could touch up to $ 10.9 million by re-enlisting with the Los Angeles Clippers, as reported ESPN. One thing is certain: he will pocket $ 8.9 million from the Charlotte Hornets in the next fiscal year, he who had been cut by the Michael Jordan franchise at the end of the 2019-20 season.