Fresh off one of the most devastating losses in NBA playoff history, the Los Angeles Clippers wake up this morning to some harsh realities. The season is over, thanks to some of their own blunders, after being up 3-1 against the Houston Rockets and this summer a lot of things could change and possibly not for the better.
Last night the Clippers went into game 7 against the Rockets needing just one win to advance to the Conference Finals to face off against their heated rival, the Golden State Warriors. That was actually the situation for the Clippers in 3 straight games and despite having double digit leads in 2 of those games, they still managed to lose 3 straight games.
Now who is to blame for the losses, that’s for another day, as of right now the reality is that the Clippers lost after having a golden opportunity and now they are at a crossroads for the current era of the Clippers. They can either have potential depth on the roster or re-sign one of their bigs to a questionable max deal.
Whether DeAndre Jordan deserves it or not, it appears he will get. The question now might be where he’s getting the money from.
Following from Yahoo! Sports Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Rockets move onto the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference finals, and the Clippers move into the summer with an anvil hanging over the franchise. DeAndre Jordan will become an unrestricted free agent, and it’ll take a five-year, $100 million max contract to re-sign him.
The Dallas Mavericks are chief among several significant suitors, and the questions for Jordan are these: Does he want a larger offensive role elsewhere, and does he think the organization can win a championship with the co-existence of Paul and Griffin?
“You can’t take anything for granted, but DJ loves being a Clipper,” Rivers told Yahoo. “DJ loves being here. We have an amazing relationship.”
Jordan getting the max could be questionable to most, including myself. He can’t make free throws consistently, he can’t score outside of 7 feet and his offense is limited. He does change the game on the defensive end and he can run a mean high pick-and-roll, granted he did it with Chris Paul.
The thing is, he’ll probably get it. There’s an increase in the salary cap next summer that will see a contract, like DeAndre’s at around $20 million per year, not look too bad. There will be huge contracts handed out this summer and next summer but the money will be drastically different depending on the players.
Jordan getting the max might shock many but in all actuality, expect it, because teams won’t be shy with their money this summer.
