The Los Angeles Clippers are set to enter their biggest offseason in years. After a disappointing finish to their season – losing in the first round to the Jazz after Blake Griffin suffered yet another season-ending injury – the team will be forced to make some major decisions in the coming months.
Griffin and Chris Paul are free agents, pending their opting out of the last year of their contracts. So too is J.J. Redick, the Clippers’ three-point shooting ace who struggled in the postseason and is reportedly expected to move on. There is a potential for the Clippers to bring back all three and run back the same core once again, despite never having sustained success in the playoffs.
Or the Clippers could clean house, dismantling the core than never reached the Western Conference Finals despite much fanfare, due to a combination of their own flaws and plenty of bad luck.
However, the second option seems unlikely at this point. In an interview with 570 AM in LA, Clippers team president and head coach Doc Rivers made it clear that he was not interested in a full rebuild:
"What we have done is proven that we can win. What we haven't done is proven that we can be the winner."-Doc Rivers now on @AM570LASports
— Jason Stewart (@JasonStewart) May 3, 2017
"We do know blowing it up would not be the right decision. What we do know is that making changes might be."-Doc Rivers on @AM570LASports
— Jason Stewart (@JasonStewart) May 3, 2017
So, it seems as though the Clippers may entertain some major changes as they attempt to finally break through in the West.
The issue with that is that the Clippers are absolutely cap strapped. Suppose they let Griffin and Redick walk but plan to re-sign Paul to continue competing among the elite teams in the west: they would not have the cap space necessary to sign a superstar to take Griffin’s place unless they do some major maneuvering.
So the Clippers don’t have many options. It’s either bring back the squad or move on entirely.
