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Adrian Wojnarowski, ESPN
LA Clippers coach Ty Lue has signed a new deal through the 2028-2029 season that will make him one of the NBA’s highest-paid coaches at approximately $14 million per year, sources told ESPN.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank had been eager to secure Lue on a new deal, and negotiations with his agent, Andy Miller of Klutch Sports, led to a finalized agreement in recent days, sources said.
The Clippers announced the deal later Wednesday but did not disclose terms.
“This is where I want to be,” Lue said in a statement. “I’ve loved coaching this team for the past four years and I’m excited to head into a new era at Intuit Dome. I’m grateful to Steve, Lawrence and the entire organization for the opportunity. With our ownership, front office, roster, staff and arena, we have all the advantages we need to win in the present and the future, and I’m confident we will.”
Lue’s deal delivers a significant element of stability for the Clippers with some roster uncertainty looming this offseason. In his stops with the Clippers and Cleveland Cavaliers, where he won the 2016 NBA championship, Lue has established himself as one of the league’s most respected and sought-after coaches.
“T Lue is everything we want in a head coach,” Frank said in a statement. “He’s a brilliant tactician and a natural leader with an extraordinary ability to connect with those around him, both players and staff. Four years ago, we felt privileged to hire T Lue, and we feel just as fortunate today. There’s no one we’d rather coach our team. T Lue is a pillar of the organization and will be for a very long time.”
The Clippers are determined to keep Paul George and James Harden in free agency, and the organization will move into the new, state-of-the-art Intuit Dome for the start of next season.
Lue, who had one year left on his contract, has gone 184-134 (.579) in four seasons with the Clippers, which is the sixth best in the NBA in that stretch, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Lue led the Clippers to the franchise’s first Western Conference finals appearance in the 2020-21 season. As a franchise, the Clippers have suffered through numerous injuries to star players during Lue’s tenure. Kawhi Leonard and George have been in the lineup for only 45% of Lue’s games as Clippers coach. He has gone 97-47 in those games, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
Lue has spent much of his tenure adapting lineups and schemes to work around injuries to his stars. In 2023-24, Lue had to adjust when the Clippers traded for Harden just three games into the season. After the trade, the Clippers lost six straight — including five with Harden in the lineup. Eventually, Lue and the Clippers turned around the season, including a 26-5 stretch that had them atop the Western Conference standings in early February.
Lue had to adapt again in April when Leonard missed the final eight games of the regular season with inflammation in his right knee. Leonard missed Game 1 of the playoffs before returning for Games 2 and 3. Leonard’s surgically repaired knee didn’t respond the way the team had hoped it would, though, and the Clippers were without him for the rest of a six-game series loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
Lue is 312-217 (.590) in the regular season and 54-37 overall (.593) in the playoffs in his stops with the Cavaliers and Clippers.
Source: www.espn.com