The Clippers were part of a four-team trade Thursday morning that will send Serge Ibaka to the reigning NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks, alleviating the logjam at center and offering the 13th-year veteran an opportunity to play for another title.

In return, the Clippers will receive wing Rodney Hood and forward Semi Ojeleye, a couple of players who they’ve had an eye on in the past, according to a league source.

The rest of the deal that also includes the Sacramento Kings and the Detroit Pistons and plays out thusly: The Kings are trading former No. 2 overall pick Marvin Bagley III to the Pistons and acquiring Bucks wing Donte DiVincenzo.

In the deadline day deal, Sacramento will receive Pistons forwards Josh Jackson and Trey Lyles along with DiVincenzo and Detroit will send out multiple second-round picks, none of which will land in L.A.

The Clippers will save about $30 million in salary tax, reported ESPN’s Bobby Marks, who also noted that, to make the money work, Ibaka will have to amend a small part of his 15% trade bonus – or $502,805 – in his contract. The Clippers will be responsible for paying the bonus.

By trading Ibaka for Hood and Ojeleye, who both are on expiring minimum deals of $2.2 million and $1.8 million, respectively, the Clippers also will net a $9.7 million traded player exception commensurate with Ibaka’s salary this season.

They’ll have a full year to use that TPE to sign a player or multiple players, as long as the sum of their salaries doesn’t go beyond the indicated value of the TPE.

Hood – a 6-foot-8 former Duke standout who is in his eighth NBA season – appeared in 39 games in his first campaign for the Bucks, averaging 3.3 points and 1.7 rebounds. He previously played for Clippers Coach Tyronn Lue for two seasons in Cleveland.

And Ojeleye – a 6-6 forward who spent his first four NBA seasons in Boston before signing with Milwaukee last year – is averaging 2.9 points and 2.9 rebounds in 20 games this season. He has history with Clippers assistant coach Jay Larranaga in Boston.

But the Clippers are still short on ball-handlers, with Reggie Jackson operating as “the only guy who’s necessarily handled the ball primarily in his career,” as he put it following the trade that dealt guard Eric Bledsoe to Portland along with Justise Winslow, Keon Johnson and a 2025 second-round pick.

Ibaka, 32, was averaging 6.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per game this season and playing a career-low 15.4 minutes per game, and splitting time with Isaiah Hartenstein, who made the cut as the Clippers’ 15th player in training camp and played well while Ibaka was recovering from back surgery earlier this season.

By the time Ibaka returned – after volunteering to ramp up with a four-game stint with the Clippers’ G League affiliate — Hartenstein had cemented his place in the Clippers’ rotation.

Clippers Coach Tyronn Lue juggled his lineup to try to play both big men, along with starting center Ivica Zubac, but that uneven platooning appeared not to benefit any of the Clippers’ post players, including Ibaka, who said having such an unpredictable role was a challenge.

The recent addition of Robert Covington – via last week’s trade with Portland that also landed Norman Powell – as a proven small-ball five further crowded the post.

“Yeah, it’s hard,” Ibaka said last week after he had 20 points and eight rebounds in the Clippers’ 111-110 victory over the Lakers, against whom he got one of his 10 starts this season.

“I’m not going to lie to you, it’s very hard because I have some day where I need to work extra just to try to stay in shape and then you work extra, it’s tiring. You work extra – for example, yesterday I worked out almost two hours and I didn’t know I would start tonight, so I try to stay in shape – but then you start tonight and you get a little tired from working yesterday, so those kind of things but at the end of the day it’s no excuses. You don’t have time to cry, to complain. When the opportunity is there, you have to go.”

Considering his inconsistent usage, Ibaka – a native of the Republic of Congo who survived war as a child and moved to Europe alone as a teenager to pursue his hoop dreams – said after the Lakers win Feb. 3 he realized he could be traded as the deadline approached, but that he sought to keep the business of basketball in perspective.

“Man, I’m just leaving everything in God’s hands,” he said. “Whatever happen, I know God put me here for a reason and I come far, man, where I come from, where I start to play basketball. To be here where I am now, I’m grateful for that.

“I know if something is behind it for the reason I’m here, so I’m going to leave everything in God hands because I believe in him. All I can do my part is just to be a professional and keep working and take care of my body, my mind, that’s all I can control.”

Ibaka played 19 minutes in the Clippers’ 137-113 loss to the Bucks – who are 35-21 – on Sunday at Staples Center. They started Thursday in second place in the Eastern Conference standings, a half-game behind the Miami Heat.

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Ibaka earned a championship ring in 2019, playing alongside Clippers star Kawhi Leonard when they were members — along with new Clipper Norman Powell — of the Toronto Raptors.

Because Brook Lopez’s back injury, the Bucks had been on the lookout for a center for a few months. By adding Ibaka and sending out three players, Milwaukee will have three open roster spots and add $6 million towards the luxury tax, according to Marks.

The Clippers (27-29) face the Mavericks on Thursday night in the first of two games this week in Dallas.

The NBA’s trade deadline expires at noon (PT) today.

The move gives Serge Ibaka, the consummate pro, an opportunity to win another title and helps sort the Clippers’ overcrowded center situation. Plus, the Clips will get a significant traded player exception. https://t.co/wKpfD59Zuc

— Mirjam Swanson (@MirjamSwanson) February 10, 2022