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Clippers FYI: Dahntay Jones hustles to join team

Atlanta's Dahntay Jones is called for a foul against Milwaukee's Mike Dunleavy during a game on April 12, 2013.
(Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
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Dahntay Jones didn’t mind the mad scramble he made to join the Clippers on Wednesday.

It sure beat playing for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.

The journeyman forward’s hectic day started after he learned the Clippers were signing him to a 10-day contract Tuesday night during a Development League game. He took a car service to Indianapolis for a 6 a.m. flight to Los Angeles.

Jones then took another flight to meet his new teammates in Portland before their game against the Trail Blazers at the Moda Center.

Total sleep time: about 90 minutes.

“My love for the game takes over and all that goes out the window,” said Jones, who has spent 10 seasons in the NBA with seven teams, most recently the Atlanta Hawks in 2012-13. “I have one game to play and I’m ready for that.”

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Clippers Coach Doc Rivers said Jones would provide the Clippers with a needed defensive presence on the wing. Rivers is familiar with Jones because Jones was a training camp invitee of the Boston Celtics in 2007 when Rivers coached the team.

“He can guard points, he can guard twos and threes,” Rivers said. “We’ll give him a try and see if he has anything, and if he doesn’t we’ll go another route.”

Jones, 34, averaged 14.4 points and 3.4 rebounds while shooting 53.7% in 19 games with the Mad Ants, but Rivers said his offense was secondary.

“He asked me, ‘What’s the offensive set?’ ” Rivers said. “I said, ‘Pass to the next guy next to you and go stop somebody.’ That’s what he’s here for.”

And the runner-up is …

The Clippers had considered signing forward Darius Miller but decided he was not in sufficient game shape after staging a workout for him Tuesday. Miller had been working out at home in Kentucky after being released by the New Orleans Pelicans last month.

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“If he had come in great [shape], we probably still would have waited just to try to get him in basketball shape,” Rivers said. “I’m sure that’s what he’s going to do.”

Rivers said the Clippers would consider signing Miller to a 10-day contract later this season.

Family reunion?

The Clippers’ efforts to acquire guard Austin Rivers from the Celtics appeared to be progressing, with one league source saying a trade could be completed Thursday.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss player movement, said the trade probably would involve some combination of Clippers guard Jordan Farmar and/or forwards Chris Douglas-Roberts and Reggie Bullock.

The Clippers need to relinquish at least $1.8 million in player salary to acquire Rivers, who would become the first NBA player to play for his father.

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Follow Ben Bolch on Twitter @latbbolch

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