Seattle, UNITED STATES, September 28, 2003 (AP) - The Seattle SuperSonics traded center Predrag Drobnjak, who had gone unsigned all summer as a restricted free agent, to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday for a future second-round draft choice.
Drobnjak, 6-foot-11 and 272 pounds, averaged 9.4 points and 3.9 rebounds in 82 games last season for Seattle. He was the Sonics' starting center for most of the season.
Drobnjak received little interest on the free agent market, and the teams worked out a sign-and-trade deal that prevented Drobnjak from waiting 15 days to see whether Seattle would match an offer sheet from the Clippers.
"This way he can start with the Clippers immediately," Sonics spokesman Mark Moquin said.
The Sonics have three other centers - Jerome James, Calvin Booth and Vitaly Potapenko, while the Clippers lost starting center Michael Olowokandi as a free agent when he signed with Minnesota.
During the offseason, the 27-year-old Drobnjak was a teammate of Clippers' guard Marko Jaric on the Serbia and Montenegro team that participated in the European Championship.
He was also a member of the Yugoslavian National Team that won the gold medal at the 2002 World Championships in Indianapolis.
A native of Yugoslavia, he was acquired by Seattle from the Washington Wizards in 2001. The Wizards had chosen him in the second round of the 1997 draft.
