The LA Clippers have officially run out days when it comes to both of their two-way players.
Combo-guard Tyrone Wallace's final day of his two-way contract came on Tuesday night when the Clippers mounted a comeback victory over the Denver Nuggets. On Friday night, guard/forward C.J. Williams completed the final day of his two-way deal against the New York Knicks, leaving the Clippers shorthanded at the guard positions.
With Avery Bradley out for the foreseeable future as he deals with a sports hernia that's been nagging him all season, LA could easily choose to convert one of their two G-League studs to a deal that would allow them to play for the remainder of the NBA season as well as the postseason, should the Clippers make it. Doing so would also mean the player would hit restricted free agency this summer. The team could also offer the players long-term deals in hopes of keeping them from entering RFA.
According to a source close to Wallace, the Clippers offered the guard out of Cal a four-year contract worth the minimum with the rest of the 2017-18 season guaranteed, but were turned down because the next three seasons (2018-19, 2019-20, and 2020-21) would all have been fully non-guaranteed years. Considering how impressive and instrumental Wallace has been for the Clippers success this season, that's a tough deal for him to accept.
By turning down the offer, the only way Wallace can suit up for the Clippers is by having the team auto-convert his deal for the rest of the season or to wait until the G-League regular season is over on March 24th to rejoin them (the latter would mean he would not be playoff eligible, however).
Without a long-term deal, Wallace is expected to hit restricted free agency this summer and be issued a qualifying offer by the Clippers. That would allow him to sign an offer sheet with another team as well as give LA the opportunity to match. One NBA General Manager suggested that Wallace could potentially net around as much as $9 million over three seasons, according to the source. That currently sounds like an absolute best case scenario for Wallace as his value on the market remains somewhat unclear.
The Clippers meanwhile, have been trying desperately to remain under the luxury tax all season. They have just over $629K available to spend, and have refused to do anything all season that would result in them having to pay fines at the end of it. It makes sense on their part to remain under that threshold this season, but doing so means potentially letting guys like Wallace or C.J. Williams hit restricted free agency this summer.
Here are some highlights from Wallace's game against the Golden State Warriors, where he scored a career-high 22 points with six rebounds, four assists, and two steals in the road win.
In 21 appearances for the Clippers, including 12 starts, Wallace averaged an impressive 10.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 0.9 steals in 27.7 minutes of action. The Clippers went 8-4 in his 12 starts with him averaging 11.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.8 assists on shooting 50 percent shooting from the field.
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