12:07 p.m: The signing is official, the Clippers have confirmed (Link to Twitter). The contract runs through Nov. 7, covering Los Angeles’ next four games.
11:56 am: Clippers received a hardship clause and will use it to re-sign the free agent guard Blake Wesley on a 10-day contract, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania (Link to Twitter).
The team gets the right to a difficulty exception if it has at least four players who have missed three consecutive games and are expected to be sidelined for at least another two weeks. The exception allows a club to sign a player to a 10-day contract even if he does not have an open spot in the 15-man squad.
Jordan Miller (shoulder surgery), Yannick Conan Niederhauser (foot surgery), Max Strus (partial rupture of the plantar fascia), Brandon Ingram (partially torn Achilles), and Bradley Beal (knee) have yet to make their Clippers debut this fall. The fact that the team received a hardship exception suggests that at least four of those five players are not close to returning.
The 25th pick in the 2022 draft, Wesley spent his first three NBA seasons in San Antonio before being traded to the Wizards in the 2025 offseason. After being waived by Washington, he signed a minimum-salary contract with the Trail Blazers in 2025-26, averaging 4.8 points and 2.0 assists in 11.6 minutes per game.
Known for his speed, athleticism and on-ball defense, Wesley missed much of last season with a fractured fifth metatarsal in his right foot that required surgical intervention. The 23-year-old played in 31 regular season games for Portland and has now played in 187 total, averaging 4.4 ppg and 2.4 ppg in 13.8 mpg over his NBA career.
Wesley was in camp with the Clippers this fall, but he was refused at the end of the preseason when the team built its 15-man roster.
Wesley will make $150,898 in 10 days of the contract, while the Clippers will make $140,771. He will be eligible to sign a second 10-day contract after the first deal expires if Los Angeles remains eligible for the hardship exception.
