Former Clippers Sharpshooter Emerges as an Unlikely Playoff Hero

The Los Angeles Clippers may be in offseason mode, but there are still four teams vying for the NBA championship. The conference finals are in full swing, and they include multiple former Clippers.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and James Harden are unsurprisingly under the spotlight, but it is another former Clipper who has stolen the show out of nowhere in recent games.

Ex-Clipper Landry Shamet's Stock On the Rise Ahead of His Free Agency

Landry Shamet has emerged as a key contributor for the New York Knicks in their surprise postseason run. The Knicks have won ten straight games in the playoffs and hold a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals. They are on the verge of making the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.

In the Knicks' crucial Game 3 win over the Cavaliers, Shamet made four out of his five three-pointers to score 14 points in 28 minutes. During New York's ten-game winning streak, Shamet is 16/25 from downtown. He is averaging 6.1 points in 14 minutes per game. The Knicks have won his minutes by a whopping 65 points in total in that stretch.

For the entire playoffs, the 29-year-old shooting guard has made 54.8% of his threes. Along with Miles McBride, Mitchell Robinson, and Jordan Clarkson, he has become a part of a surprisingly elite Knicks bench. In fact, he ended up closing a few games over the starting Josh Hart in that span.

For Clippers fans who watched Shamet up close earlier in his career, this may not be very surprising. He was a 40% three-point shooter as a Clipper and had his first playoff experiences in LA in the first two seasons of his career. He was then traded to the Nets after the disappointing 2020 NBA Playoffs for the Clippers in exchange for Luke Kennard.

Shamet continued his quality shooting over the years, but was forgotten in the wilderness after he was traded to the Washington Wizards in the 2023 offseason. The lone year he played for the Wizards remains the only season Shamet missed the playoffs in his career. In every postseason run, the veteran sharpshooter seems to find a way to carve out a role for himself.

Perhaps this playoff run will finally get Shamet a contract better than the veteran's minimum. He will be a free agent this summer and may prioritize a big payday.

The Clippers, lacking shooting and possessing cap space, could perhaps have interest in bringing back a familiar face in Shamet. Whether that comes to fruition or if Shamet prefers to stay in New York remains to be seen.

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