LOS ANGELES -- When opportunity knocks you must be prepared to open the door. Maalik Wayns did just that when the Los Angeles Clippers came calling with a 10-day contract on March 8. Monday, the Clippers offered him a second 10-day contract and he couldn’t be happier to still be playing on a team that is 47-22.

“It is just a fun environment,” Wayns said prior to his matchup against his former teammates on Wednesday. “All those guys are fun guys. They all like each other and they all embrace me. They treat me like I have been here since training camp so I just feel blessed.

“I am playing behind probably the best point guard in the league,” Wayns continued, speaking of Chris Paul. “I am playing on a great team, a playoff team so I am just learning a lot.”

Wayns began his year with the Sixers after signing with the team in July as a free agent. The speedy guard was a high school standout at Roman Catholic and then stayed in his hometown for college, excelling at Villanova University.

Wayns most impressive time with the Sixers was in training camp and the exhibition season, but later the team’s needs and what Wayns was capable of giving them were not the same.

“We signed him to be our third point guard,” Doug Collins said. “And with all the injuries he maybe didn’t get to play as much. He did a really good job for us in the exhibition season. He has tremendous speed. He does well in the open floor. He can change the pace of the game and he can score the ball.”

After being waived by the Sixers in January, Wayns went to the D-league and that can be a humbling experience. The minor league does not have the cache of the NBA lifestyle, but it can certainly help a player realize what it is going to take to be an NBA player full-time.

Wayns is getting there, through observation of one CP3.

“Just being a hard worker,” Wayns said of what his point guard mentor, Paul, is teaching him. “He does things that I have never seen before, like we got to Sacramento the other night and he went right to the gym from the plane along with going to the shoot around the next morning. He’s a hard worker and he works hard and he is a coach, a coach on the floor and all the guys know it and he has control.”

“The thing I love is that he is out here with Chris Paul,” Collins said of Wayns’ latest NBA experience. “You take a young guy like that and let him be around a Chris Paul and let him watch the way he prepares every single night. Maalik is more of a scoring point guard. When he is at his best he is running mid-pick and roll and pushing that ball in the open floor, but I am happy because he is a great kid.”

In a 17-minute run against the Sixers, Wayns scored nine points on 3 of 6 shooting. He also had two assists and just one turnover.

Collins believes Wayns has a future at the NBA level, but how long and how productive will depend on Wayns’ learning curve.

“Any player in the NBA that I don’t consider a megastar -- at some point in time the quicker you figure out who you are and what you have to do every single night to be in the rotation -- the greater your chances of being around a long time,” Collins explained. “And sometimes it is hard. It takes some guys a longer time than others.

“Like I look at a guy like Damien Wilkins. He knows who he is, knows what he needs to do and comes to do his job every single night,” Collins continued. “He is a pro’s pro and he will look at the end of his career and he will have played 13 or 14 years in the NBA and chances are end up being a coach someday. Know who you are and what you bring.”

“I am 21 years old and this is my first time being away from home without anybody,” Wayns said of the newness and adjusting. “Chris has taken me in and he is already like a big brother to me. Everywhere he goes he has me on his hip and I am just learning from him.”