Free agent Serge Ibaka plans to sign a two-year, $19 million deal with the LA Clippers, a source told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The deal will include a player option in the second year, the source said.
Ibaka’s career renaissance as a small-ball center for the Toronto Raptors continued into last season. The 31-year-old averaged a career-high 15.4 points per game and 8.2 rebounds, the second-most in his career and the most since 2013-14 (8.8).
Ibaka made a name for himself early in his career as an elite shot-blocker with the Oklahoma City Thunder, where he was the fourth wheel behind Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden.
After a brief stint in Orlando, Ibaka was traded to the Raptors in the middle of the 2016-17 season. He signed a three-year, $64 million deal to stay with Toronto the following offseason. Ibaka more than lived up to that price tag as he helped the Raptors win the franchise’s first NBA championship two seasons ago.
Heading into his 12th NBA season, Ibaka remains a strong and versatile defender capable of guarding multiple positions. After a down shooting year two seasons ago, Ibaka returned as a threat from deep last season. He shot 38.5% on 3-pointers, the second-best mark of his career.
Ibaka, who has been somewhat of an ironman, played a career-low 55 games last season. He missed more than two weeks with an ankle sprain last November.
