Washington Huskies Basketball: Spencer Hawes signs with the L.A. Clippers

The success stories of former University of Washington men’s basketball players at the next level continued this week. Spencer Hawes agreed to a four-year $23 million dollar contract with the Los Angeles Clippers. This agreement with the Clippers for Hawes will most likely be part of a sign and trade deal from Cleveland to Los Angeles.

Hawes, has bounced somewhat throughout his NBA career as he has played for the Sacramento Kings, Philadelphia 76ers, and Cleveland Cavaliers since entering the league in 2007.

His productivity has been solid for the most part throughout as he is averaging just under ten points per for his career. The 2013-14 season was a nice breakout season as Hawes averaged 13.2 points per game while splitting time the Cavaliers and 76ers.

Thus, with an opportunity to be a part of the Clippers a team that is a definite championship contender it makes perfect sense for Hawes to move forward and go try and compete for a championship.

The other big reason why this move should benefit Hawes is that he will not have to be leader in the frontcourt for Los Angeles as they have plenty of top-flight frontcourt talent in Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. Consequently, Hawes should be able to come in off of the bench and spell Griffin and Jordan a great deal which would put the Clippers in an even better position to succeed come playoff time.

Overall, in spite of the inconsistent on-court struggles of the Washington men’s basketball program under head coach Lorenzo Romar there has been no doubt of ability of Romar to get guys drafted into the NBA. In addition, several of the 13 drafted players under Hawes under Romar have gone on to have very solid careers if not highly productive. For example, Brandon Roy before his injuries with his knees was well on his way to being one of the best players of his era.