Former member of the Maccabi Hod Hasharon Basketball club, Xavier Moon, signed a 10-day contract with the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers. With COVID running rampant amongst players, teams are utilizing the NBA Hardship Exception, which grants teams the ability to call up additional players without having to cut or waive anyone on the current roster. The rule states that if a team has at least four players who are sick or injured for longer than two weeks, they can exceed the 15-player roster limit.

Xavier Moon was born in Alabama and averaged 35 points per game playing on his high school varsity team. During his senior year, Moon was also the football team’s quarterback. After high school, Moon spent two years at Northwest Florida State College before transferring to Morehead State. In 2016, Xavier Moon was the first player for Morehead State to ever record a triple-double, putting up 25 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds. Despite being second on the team in scoring as a junior, averaging 10.2 points per game and shooting 48 percent from the field, Moon graduated college without being drafted.

Moon then went on to play in many different countries. First, Moon went to the LNB pro- B second-tier level Men’s Professional Basketball League to play in France for six months. He then returned home to the United States to play for the Albany Patroons in The Basketball League (TBL), where he averaged 18 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists per game. Moon was named the North American Premier Basketball Rookie of the Year. In 2018, Moon moved to Canada where he played for the London Lightning in the National Basketball League of Canada. He then moved to play for the Canadian Elite Basketball League’s (CEBL) Edmonton Stingers, and averaged 19.3 points and 5.7 assists per game. He was named the League MVP and led his team to the semi finals. Following that impressive season, Moon tried out for the Toronto Raptors affiliate team, but was one of the final roster cuts.

In August of 2020, Moon came to Israel and played for Maccabi Hod HaSharon of the Israeli National League. In 31 games, Moon averaged 24.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game. After playing a season in Israel, Moon returned to the CEBL’s Edmonton Stingers for the 2020-2021 season. He resumed his MVP-level play in Edmonton, and won his third CEBL MVP award and second CEBL championship.

The following 2021 season, Moon signed with the Agua Caliente Clippers, the affiliate NBA team for the Los Angeles Clippers. With them, Moon averaged 12.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 7.3 assists in 14 games before signing a 10-day contract with the Clippers.

The Los Angeles Clippers are currently sixth in the Western Conference with a 17-17 (.500) record. They have multiple players out, which allowed the team to call up Moon. Reggie Jackson and Jay Scrubb are both in health and safety protocols, Isaiah Hartenstein and Nicolas Batum are both out with ankle injuries, and Paul George suffered a torn ligament in the elbow.

In his first game with the Clippers, Xavier Moon played twelve minutes, had two points, one assist and and one rebound. The Clippers lost that game 124-108 to the top team in the Eastern Conference, the Brooklyn Nets. Hopefully, Moon will take advantage of the open roster spot and his temporary contract to prove that he deserves a permanent.