Reggie Jackson Signs with Clippers After Pistons Contract Buyout

Reggie Jackson signed a contract with the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday, though terms of the agreement were not disclosed by the club.

"Reggie is a proven playmaker and scorer, and we are looking forward to adding his experience and creativity to our team," Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said. 

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN noted "several contenders" were interested in the 29-year-old after he reached an agreement on a buyout from the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday.

Jackson played all 82 games in 2018-19 and helped lead the Pistons to the playoffs, where they were swept by the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round. He averaged 15.4 points and 4.2 assists a night during the regular season behind a career-best 36.9 percent clip from deep.

He found a way to more consistently take advantage of openings created by the additional attention Blake Griffin drew and also finished with just 1.8 turnovers a night—his lowest total since he was playing limited minutes as Russell Westbrook's backup on the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2012-13.

The Thunder drafted Jackson in the first round in 2011 and traded him to the Pistons in 2015 after an inconsistent tenure. However, he posted career-best totals of 18.8 points and 6.2 assists per game in his first full season with Detroit.

Jackson—who has played just 14 games this season because of injury—is still a productive backcourt piece when healthy, but changes were necessary at this point from the Pistons' perspective.

They haven't won a playoff game since 2008 and are not exactly staring at an immediate championship window. Jackson was only under contract through the 2019-20 season.

As for the Clippers, they get another scorer who can come off the bench and provide a spark alongside the formidable duo of Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell. While players like Kawhi Leonard and Paul George will be trusted in the final minutes of playoff games, it is becoming increasingly difficult for teams to match up with Los Angeles' entire roster.

That will especially be the case during seven-game series in the postseason, as Jackson has the talent of a starter and can swing the course of a contest against a second-string point guard.