Clippers/Lakers preseason game – halftime

In the first preseason game of the season, the Clippers lead the Lakers 55-50 at halftime.

Newly-acquired Chancey Billips leads the Clips with 12 points and Blake Griffin has 10 and three rebounds. The revamped roster includes Chris Paul, who has seven points, four rebounds and five assists and Caron Butler, who has scored five in the first half. Mo Williams, Randy Foye, Ryan Gomes, Brian Cook and Marcus Hubbard have also seen playing time as has starter DeAndre Jordan.

Kobe Bryant leads all scores with 15.

Clippers Get Chris Paul; lose Gordon, Kaman, draft pick

The Clippers, in a potentially franchise-changing trade, have finally reached a deal with the New Orleans Hornets to acquire four-time All-Star guard Chris Paul from the New Orleans Hornets, sources tell TNT’s David Aldridge. The Clippers will send promising shooting guard Eric Gordon, center Chris Kaman, second-year forward Al-Farouq Aminu and a 2012 first-round draft pick from the Minnesota Timberwolves that is currently unprotected to the Hornets.

Clippers tickets and schedule

The Los Angeles Clippers announced today that single game tickets will go on sale Thursday, December 15th at 10:00 AM. To purchase single game tickets, Clippers fans can visit: www.clippers.com, www.ticketmaster.com or call 800-4NBA-TIX.

Tickets can also be purchased at the STAPLES Center Box Office and Ticketmaster Centers including select Wal-Mart locations, La Curacao and The Beverly Center beginning at 10:00 AM.
The Clippers home opener of the 2011-12 season at STAPLES Center is on Friday, December 30th against NBA MVP Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls.

Other highlights on the schedule are home match-ups against the Eastern Conference Champion Miami Heat on Wednesday, January 11th, the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday, January 14th and Wednesday, April 4th, the NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday, January 18th and the Boston Celtics on Monday, March 12th.

Clippers and Caron Butler

The Clippers today signed two-time NBA All-Star Caron Butler as a free agent. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not announced.
“Caron completes what we believe to be a playoff caliber starting lineup,” stated Vice President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey. “His professionalism, leadership abilities and basketball skills are an excellent addition to our existing roster composition and another step in building the culture necessary to create a model of sustainable success.”

Butler, 30, averaged 15.0 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 29 games last season for the Dallas Mavericks, starting the first 29 games of 2010 before suffering a ruptured right patellar tendon, which forced him to miss the remainder of the season.

Originally drafted by the Miami Heat with the 10th overall pick of the 2002 NBA Draft, Butler has appeared in 589 career games with Miami, the Lakers, Washington and Dallas and brings to the Clippers career averages of 16.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 36.3 minutes per game.

The six-foot-seven, 228 pound Butler appeared in the All-Star Game in 2007 when he led Washington with 19.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. A year later, Butler was again named an NBA All-Star, finishing the 2007-08 season as the only player in the NBA to average at least 20.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals.

A member of the 2002-03 NBA All-Rookie Team, Butler has appeared in 31 career playoff contests, averaging 16.4 points and 7.8 rebounds in the postseason.

Now entering his ninth NBA season, the Racine, Wisconsin native played two years at the University of Connecticut, averaging 18.0 points and 7.6 rebounds in 63 career games while leading the Huskies to the Elite 8 in 2002 and earning Co-Big East Player of the Year and Honorable Mention All-American honors.

In a related move the Clippers renounced their rights to free agents Ike Diogu, Jamario Moon and Craig Smith.