Summary

I was surprised Patterson got more than the minimum last offseason, as he signed for slightly above that at $3.1 million. I certainly thought Patterson would only get minimum offers, but some have noted that Patterson got some additional salary in case the Clippers needed additional salary to fit into a trade, rather than anything to do with his actual abilities. I don't expect him to get offers above the minimum this summer, but he could surprise me again.

 

I think Patterson's role at this point in his career is pretty clear. He's a stretch big that can provide decent rotational minutes during the regular season, but probably not someone that you want to give real minutes to in the playoffs. How much longer Patterson can adequately provide regular minutes will be a question for teams interested in him this summer. Patterson hits shots at a reasonable clip, but has always been in the mid-to-high 30s in three-point percentage, above-average for a big but definitely not elite.

 

On defense, he isn't terrible but he's somewhat slow footed and could get picked on after switching onto perimeter players. He's also not a rim protector, which limits the ability to play him at center.

 

Cap Considerations

Patterson will be an unrestricted free agent with a $4 million cap hold and Early Bird rights. Since the Clippers will most likely be operating over the salary cap, they will retain Patterson's Early Bird rights until he is re-signed or signs elsewhere. The Clippers could offer Morris a starting salary of up to 5% more than the average salary (likely around $10 million) using the Early Bird exception, which should be more than enough should they wish to bring him back.

 

Other teams will have multiple ways to sign Patterson as even teams without cap space could possibly use any of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Taxpayer MLE, or possibly even the Room MLE or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. There's also a chance that Patterson could be signed for the minimum.