The Los Angeles Clippers made a trade on Friday morning that sent Josh Smith to the Houston Rockets. Smith was out of the rotation and wasn't exactly well liked in the locker room so the Clippers shipped him out for the rights to a couple of foreign players. While trading Smith got rid of a problem it also opened up a roster spot for the Clippers to potentially use and they will use it on a 10-day deal for Jeff Ayres, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports.
Ayres, formerly known as Jeff Pendergraph, is a 28 year old power forward out of Arizona State University. After playing four years of college at ASU Ayres was selected with the first pick in the second round of the 2009 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings. On draft night Ayres was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers where he spent his first season in the NBA.
Ayres spent two seasons with the Indiana Pacers after leaving the Blazers but he had his most success with the San Antonio Spurs the past two seasons. Over the two years Ayres appeared in 124 games, including 10 starts, and averaged 3 points and 3 rebounds per game while making 58 percent of his field goal attempts.
This offseason Ayres was not signed by an NBA team so he went to the D-League where he was playing for the Idaho Stampede. Ayres has had a very good season with the Stampede so far this season as he is averaging 16.3 points and 9.5 rebounds while making 55 percent of his field goals through 23 games. Ayres was playing extremely well in the D-League so he warranted an NBA spot but unlike most of the other guys signing 10-day contracts, Ayres has a lot of NBA experience and playoff experience in his past (he was a rotation player for the Spurs championship team in 2013-14).
With Smith now out of the picture the Clippers don't have many true power forwards on the roster so Ayres could help fill that void. Blake Griffin has missed the team's last 12 games but he is expected to return soon so that blocks a path to playing time for Ayres. Regardless of Griffin's return the Clippers have been playing small ball and it's been working so his time on the floor should be very limited.
