Yuki Kawamura’s next stop is Los Angeles.
The Japanese Olympian point guard, who spent NBA Summer League with the Pacers this year, has signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Clippers, according to a post on the team’s official X account. That kind of deal is a one-year, non-guaranteed minimum salary contract.
If a player is waived before the season starts - and most players on Exhibit 10 deals are, sometimes within days - he can still be in line for a bonus if he remains with that team’s G League affiliate for at least 60 days. This year, that bonus is projected to be as much as about $91,000.
Kawamura’s Summer League run in Indiana gave a glimpse of exactly why he has drawn so much attention. In five games, he put up 41 points and 24 assists while turning it over just 10 times. His 24 assists ranked 11th among all players in Summer League and led everyone who played fewer than 100 minutes.
The shot-making, though, never really came along. Kawamura finished 11 of 32 from the field, a 34.4% clip, and went 1 of 13 from beyond the arc.
His profile had already surged on the international stage at the 2024 Summer Olympics, when he averaged 20.3 points and 7.7 assists for Japan. One of his biggest moments came in a 29-point performance in an overtime group play loss to eventual silver medalist France.
Kawamura has spent the past two seasons on two-way contracts, first with the Memphis Grizzlies and then with the Chicago Bulls. He averaged 3.4 points and 2.6 assists for Chicago last season, and in his G League career he has produced 14.3 points and 9.0 assists per game.
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