The 22-year-old Ivica Zubac will fight for the NBA title next season with the Los Angeles Clippers, after deciding to extend his contract with the Western Conference team to four years and $28 million.
The news was released by Adrian Wojnarowski on Saturday evening Croatian time, though it was anticipated, given that Zubac did not have an offer on the market. Since the Clippers also signed Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, they are a serious contender for the NBA title this season, reports Sportske Novosti on July 6, 2019.
Thus, by signing the promising young Croatian representative, the Clippers have come one step closer to completing their team for the next season, as there are now ten players in the roster who can be seriously rotated.
Zubac moved to the Clippers in February after he was part of a trade deal that offered Zubac and Michael Beasley to the Clippers for Mike Muscala. The controversial move by Lakers’ president Magic Johnson was highly criticized by numerous analysts.
This was especially true when the talent from Čitluk wasted no time fitting into Doc Rivers’ squad, where he was given 20.2 minutes per game and gave Rivers a 'thank you' in return by scoring an average of 9.4 points, with 53.8 percent of shots in play and 7.7 rebounds.
This is a great rich guy tweet from @ivicazubac pic.twitter.com/pRhGFbp6DK
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) July 6, 2019
Although he had fewer minutes in the playoffs, and ultimately fell out of the rotation after the third game in the series against the Warriors as Rivers was forced to play with a different composition for better matchups, it did not mean that the Clippers lost faith in their starting center, which is confirmed by this contract.
Zubac’s new payday is surpassed only by Croatian NBA players Bojan Bogdanović, who will make over $73 million for four years at Utah Jazz, and Toni Kukoč, who in 2000 signed a four-year deal with Philadelphia for $29 million and in 1994 signed with Chicago for six years at $26 million.
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