590. This is the number of different players who have walked on an NBA floor this season. This is an absolute record, due to the Covid epidemic, and among them there is Xavier Moon. Like a good hundred players, this 27-year-old point guard was used as a “medical joker”, and on Sunday his third and final 10-day contract ended. However, he had the smile because the chance of the calendar led him to Madison Square Garden for the latter.
” It rocks ! ” did he throw entering the mecca of basketball. “I was watching the games on TV, Madison Square Garden, everyone doing what they have to do, and they give me a chance to be on the field… It’s surreal! It’s like in a movie. But I know I will come back. Soon. “
“These are players I’ve been watching on TV for the past two years and now I’m actually on the move with them”
Passed by France, England, Israel and Canada, Xavier Moon was initially supposed to join a second division team in Italy when his agent called him to say that the Clippers wanted to integrate him into their affiliated team in G -League, the Agua Caliente Clippers. The even distant prospect of playing in the NBA took over, and the Covid allowed him to land an initial 10-day contract for around $50,000.
“I had seen that if you had talent, they find you…” he explains before adding “I said to myself that I would not go abroad this year and I think that was probably one of the best decisions that I made. “
Upon arrival, he will have played 83 minutes, and he lived a waking dream: “These are players I’ve been watching on TV for the past two years and now I’m actually on the move with them. It is a question of learning from them, and then of retaining the lessons whatever my journey afterwards. “
On the Clippers side, everyone loves him. Starting with Tyronn Lue. “He understands things quickly. If you look at the times when we get together, he’s always involved. I know his mentality. “
“I hope to see him in another team and compete with him here very soon because I think he deserves it”
As for the teammates, Reggie Jackson is the most talkative. “It’s a real Clipper!” By his behavior, his state of mind, his will, his desire to improve, and his way of taking an interest in the team. Since his arrival, he has improved every day, he hasn’t complained, he’s not afraid of anyone, he doesn’t back down. “
Reggie Jackson appreciates him so much that he even wishes him to find a contract elsewhere! “I love seeing him play with the Agua Caliente Clippers but I hope he signs somewhere else. I hope we will call him, I hope to see him in another team and compete with him here very soon because I think he deserves it. “
A Reggie Jackson who recognized himself in his teammate’s enthusiasm, and he remembers his rookie year when he, too, discovered the Garden.
“We went up a small elevator shaft – and I remember the smells, wondering what was going on” he says. “For my teammates, I saw that it was normal. I remember Russell (Westbrook) and KD (Kevin Durant) looking at me like my eyes were alight…Today I try to do the same with others now. I could see the glint in his eyes, just like in Brandon Boston’s eyes before… It’s nice to see him walking around Madison Square Garden, to see how excited he is and to be able to play with him.“
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Paul George | 26 | 35.5 | 42.1 | 32.3 | 88.0 | 0.4 | 6.7 | 7.1 | 5.5 | 4.2 | 2.0 | 0.4 | 2.5 | 24.7 |
| Reggie Jackson | 44 | 31.6 | 39.3 | 32.5 | 84.8 | 0.5 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 4.2 | 2.2 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 1.9 | 16.9 |
| Marcus Morris | 26 | 30.3 | 41.7 | 36.4 | 85.9 | 0.6 | 4.6 | 5.2 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 15.5 |
| Luke Kennard | 38 | 28.7 | 42.6 | 43.0 | 86.8 | 0.2 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 1.6 | 11.6 |
| Terance Mann | 47 | 29.3 | 47.8 | 37.1 | 74.4 | 1.4 | 3.9 | 5.3 | 2.3 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 2.2 | 10.2 |
| James Ennis | 2 | 14.0 | 63.6 | 50.0 | 100.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 10.0 |
| Ivica Zubac | 44 | 24.7 | 67.3 | 0.0 | 74.4 | 2.8 | 5.4 | 8.2 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 2.5 | 9.9 |
| Eric Bledsoe | 48 | 25.7 | 42.0 | 32.4 | 75.7 | 0.5 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 4.2 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 9.8 |
| Nicholas Batum | 28 | 26.0 | 49.2 | 40.7 | 68.2 | 0.4 | 4.2 | 4.7 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 9.2 |
| Isaiah Hartenstein | 34 | 15.6 | 66.2 | 66.7 | 66.1 | 1.6 | 2.6 | 4.2 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 2.5 | 7.4 |
| Amir Coffey | 35 | 20.3 | 45.4 | 38.2 | 88.0 | 0.4 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 7.0 |
| Bj Boston, Jr. | 31 | 16.5 | 35.5 | 29.1 | 85.1 | 0.3 | 2.2 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 6.9 |
| Serge Ibaka | 29 | 15.4 | 46.5 | 40.4 | 63.6 | 1.2 | 3.0 | 4.2 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 6.4 |
| Xavier Moon | 6 | 13.9 | 41.2 | 30.0 | 66.7 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 5.5 |
| Justise Winslow | 32 | 11.4 | 45.1 | 20.8 | 52.0 | 0.6 | 2.5 | 3.1 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 3.8 |
| Keon Johnson | 15 | 9.0 | 33.3 | 27.3 | 76.2 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 3.5 |
| Jayden Scrubb | 14 | 6.8 | 37.5 | 26.3 | 57.1 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 2.8 |
| Wenyen Gabriel | 6 | 7.7 | 38.5 | 40.0 | 50.0 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 2.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 2.3 |
| Moses Wright | 1 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
