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The Los Angeles Clippers Thursday signed free agent forward Ryan Gomes. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not announced.
Gomes, 27, averaged 10.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 76 games last season for the Minnesota Timberwolves. A teammate of recently signed Clippers guard Randy Foye in Minnesota from 2007-09, Gomes has appeared in a total of 374 games in his five-year NBA career with Boston and the Timberwolves and brings career averages of 11.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists in 307 total starts to Los Angeles.
“I think Ryan Gomes is an excellent addition to our team,” said Neil Olshey of the Los Angeles Clippers. “Ryan is a proven, hard-nosed veteran presence who is a consistent inside-out scorer with great character who has had a positive impact on every team he has been a part of.”
The six-foot-seven, 250 pound Gomes led Minnesota in scoring 10 times last season and recorded his 4,000th career NBA point on Feb. 17, 2010. Gomes was traded by Minnesota to Portland in a draft day trade, and subsequently waived by the Trailblazers on June 29.
The all-time leading scorer in Providence College history with 2,138 points, Gomes was originally drafted by the Boston Celtics with the 50th overall pick of the 2005 NBA Draft. After a sparkling college career, Gomes played two seasons in Boston before the Celtics traded him to Minnesota on July 31, 2007 along with Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair and two 2009 First Round draft picks in exchange for Kevin Garnett.
The Waterbury, Connecticut native enjoyed three solid seasons with the Timberwolves, putting together an impressive Ironman streak of 203 consecutive games played that came to an end on Dec. 14, 2009. Gomes averaged a career-high 13.3 points in 2008- 09 when he started a career-high 76 games.
