The Offseason Primer: Where the LA Clippers stand entering the summer
Building a contender while dealing with the punitive second apron will not be easy.
Talking about the salary cap in the NBA can be boring, mundane, and rather uninteresting. But it’s also a necessary endeavor to get an idea of where teams stand and the pathways to success that might be available to them.
That’s what we’re here to do: talk about the salary cap as it pertains to the LA Clippers, their battle with the second apron, and the decisions that will have to be made by them and certain players on their roster.
Let’s start the nerding-out process.
WHERE DO THE CLIPPERS STAND?
At the present moment, the Clippers are slated to be $95.6 million over the salary cap for the upcoming 2024-25 season. That’s with seven players under guaranteed contract, three players who possess player options, another three players with unrestricted free agent cap holds, a different set of three players who are slated to be restricted free agents, and one player with a team option for next season.
THE GUARANTEED SALARIES
The list of seven players with guaranteed salaries is as follows:
Kawhi Leonard: $49,350,000
Norman Powell: $19,241,379
Ivica Zubac: $11,743,210
Terance Mann: $11,743,210
Bones Hyland: $4,158,440
Amir Coffey: $3,938,271
Kobe Brown: $2,533,920
Total: $102,388,297
The only two players out of the list of seven with guaranteed contracts beyond this upcoming season are Kawhi Leonard and Norman Powell.
Leonard signed a three-year, $150 million extension in January while Powell has another year remaining on his deal for the 2025-26 season.
Ivica Zubac, Terance Mann, and Amir Coffey are all entering the final year of their respective contracts while Kobe Brown has a team option for both 2025-26 and 2026-27. Bones Hyland is slated to hit restricted free agency after the 2024-25 season.
EXTENSION ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
The Clippers possess a healthy quantity of players who are eligible to sign extensions on their current deals. One of them is Paul George, who we will get to momentarily.
Norman Powell is eligible to sign an extension for up to three more years, which combined with the two years he has left on his current deal would secure him for five full seasons. Powell turns 31 near the end of May.
Also fitting the bill is Terance Mann, who as mentioned earlier is entering the final season of his current contract. Mann was extension eligible last offseason but neither the team nor Mann’s representatives pushed for a deal to get done. Mann is eligible to sign up to a four-year, $78.7 million extension. Mann turns 28 in October.
Ivica Zubac is also extension-eligible as he enters the final year of his deal. Zubac had a wonderful playoff series against Dallas and doesn’t turn 28 until March.
Also joining the above players are Amir Coffey, Bones Hyland, Brandon Boston Jr., and P.J. Tucker.
THE PLAYER OPTION GROUP
For the most part, the Clippers’ offseason will be dictated by three players: Paul George, P.J. Tucker, and Russell Westbrook.
In the case of George, he owns a $48.8 million player option for the 2024-25 season. If Paul George picks up that option, he’ll be locked into that number for the upcoming season. Doing so would allow the Clippers and George to explore both the trade market and extension negotiations should they so choose. However, odds are that George will decline his player option to hit unrestricted free agency and thus would be able to leverage interest from other teams to get the full four-year, $221 million max contract he’s seeking from the Clippers.
For Tucker, things appear a lot more simple. P.J. Tucker has an $11.5 million player option for next season and all reports indicate that Tucker will indeed pick that option up as the 39-year-old will not see that level of money on the open market. The Clippers could look to move Tucker this offseason, but should nothing materialize on that front, there’s always the option of waiving and stretching Tucker’s remaining deal. That would take his contract from a one-year, $11.5 million deal and turn it into a three-year, $11.5 million deal and give it a yearly cap hit of $3,846,333 over the 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27 seasons as a way to help alleviate the luxury tax burden.
As for Westbrook, his player option stands at $4.0 million and the decision around whether or not he returns will need to be made. Russell Westbrook had a solid season off the bench for the Clippers but struggled mightily in the team’s first-round series loss to Dallas, shooting 26% from the field. Westbrook also wasn’t happy with being demoted to the bench after the arrival of James Harden, and the Clippers will have to decide on whether or not keeping Westbrook makes sense if the guard picks up the aforementioned player option, or if they’d rather distribute the backup point guard minutes to 23-year-old Bones Hyland as Hyland enters the final year of his deal.
THE UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS
Much like George, guard James Harden will control a lot of what the LA Clippers can do in free agency. Harden is set to be an unrestricted free agent, but all signs point to the guard returning to the team under a deal that makes sense not just for him but for the Clippers as well. Remember, the franchise has to navigate the pesky and dreaded second apron while still fielding a contender. Harden appears a lock to return regardless of the cap situation.
Backup center Mason Plumlee struggled a lot in the first-round loss to the Mavericks, and he’s set for unrestricted free agency with a $9.5 million cap hold. Plumlee’s 2023-24 salary was just $5.0 million as the center took less money to return to the team last season. After a year in which he suffered a brutal knee injury and did not look like himself after he returned, one can expect the Clippers to likely move on from the 34-year-old.
Not much was expected of reserve center Daniel Theis after he joined the team following his release from Indiana during the early stages of the season, but Theis put up a good year with the club as he shot 37% from deep and played 59 games for the Clippers. At 32 years old, it’s unsure what Theis’ market will look like as he hits unrestricted free agency. Theis returning to the Clippers on a minimum contract shouldn’t be ruled out considering his willingness to take on a smaller role after Plumlee returned to the fold.
THE RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS
None of the restricted free agents are particularly big names, but the Clippers will have some decisions to make along the way as far as they’re concerned.
Forward Brandon Boston Jr. has shown flashes here and there for the organization after they selected him 51st overall in 2021. While it has been in an extremely limited role, Boston has shot 39.6% overall in 105 games through his three years in the league while only making 31.3% of his 3s. Boston, 22, is eligible for an extension this offseason. Boston signed a guaranteed contract after he was drafted and has spent three years in the NBA. Whether or not the Clippers retain his services remains to be seen.
While he hasn’t been featured much at the top level, center Moussa Diabate has played a bit in the G League over the last two seasons for the Clippers. However, Diabate is coming off an injury-plagued campaign that saw him miss considerable time and development. The former 43rd pick in the 2022 draft does have athletic upside, but will the Clippers want to wait it out or use the roster spot on someone else? Diabate was under a two-way contract for both years and is eligible to sign another two-way contract for just one more season as players can’t spend more than three total seasons on two-way contracts with the same team.
As for Xavier Moon, the athletic guard has only spent one year under a two-way contract with the Clippers and is indeed eligible to sign another variation of that contract should both he and the team choose to do so. Because Moon has been in the league for three seasons, he’s only eligible to sign a one-year, two-way contract as opposed to the two-year version. At 29, odds are the Clippers opt to use Moon’s two-way spot on someone younger.
THE TEAM OPTION GUY
Big man Kai Jones was signed by the Clippers at the end of the season after they waived guard Joshua Primo, another one of their attempted reclamation projects. Jones was selected 19th overall by the Charlotte Hornets in 2021 and is just 23 years old. Jones is raw, athletic, and has a long way to go to make good on his draft position. At his end-of-season presser, Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank referred to players like Jones as one of the “fallen angels, guys that may have been lottery picks that showed in the NBA minutes that they can do it.” Odds are the Clippers pick up Jones’ team option and get him a full training camp to see if he can supply any helpful minutes going into next season.
NAVIGATING THE SECOND APRON
This will be the trickiest endeavor for the Clippers this offseason as the second apron is arguably the most punitive thing the NBA has ever put into their Collective Bargaining Agreement. The ramifications of going over, especially for multiple years, could scuttle any chance teams have of building a long-term contender.
There’s no way around it: The Clippers are most likely not getting under the second apron this summer as they presently sit $47.1 million over that threshold. There could be ways to get under it, though, but it involves some extremely tough moves.
Letting Paul George walk in free agency is one way to get under that level, but replacing his talent and production wouldn’t be easy considering their lack of spending avenues. But that’s not the only way to get under.
Re-signing James Harden to a three-year, $120 million deal and George to a four-year, $201 million deal would bring the Clippers to $33.9 million over the second apron. That might not seem like much movement, but cutting that damage by $13 million is a big deal. Waiving and stretching P.J. Tucker would bring it down by another $7.7 million. Renouncing the rights to Mason Plumlee and Daniel Theis would trim it by another $12 million. And suddenly you’re only $14.7 million over the second apron with 14 roster spots locked in. But that also doesn’t account for the $4 million they’d save if Russell Westbrook doesn’t pick up his option, and they could then trade Norman Powell for a player on a cheaper deal to further lessen the blow.
Is that an ideal scenario? Likely not. But it is doable, even if it seems crazy to outline the steps to get there. In reality, as long as both Harden and George are willing to play ball, and the reports are that George still wants his full-level max contract of four years and $221 million, it would be possible for the Clippers to get close to, if not under, the punitive second apron. It would just require a lot of gymnastics and the potential gutting of some depth.
LOWERING THE TAX BILL
From this current point, the Clippers would have to shed over $65 million in contracts to get under the tax line. That’d require them to be comfortable letting Paul George walk in free agency and then combining that move with a myriad of others that would trim another $16 million off the books. It’s highly unlikely, but stranger has happened, I guess.
Still, there are ways to limit the tax they’d have to pay. They are a repeater tax team, and each dollar they are over the tax comes with its own spending bracket. Considering how the last few seasons have gone for the Clippers, is being $65 million over the luxury tax line something Steve Ballmer is at all comfortable with? It’s hard to say. They did waive guard Eric Gordon last summer to save money, after all, which signaled that there is a limit to the spending.
Waiving and stretching P.J. Tucker, renouncing the rights to Mason Plumlee and Daniel Theis, and Russell Westbrook declining his player option would put them $42 million over the luxury tax line. That right there saves $23 million, but in terms of actual repeater tax savings, it’d cut the Clippers’ tax bill from $370.8 million to $187.9 million. Yeah, that’s a savings of $182.9 million just in luxury tax payments.
It turns a team from a $607.4 million investment (salary plus tax) to $401.1 million. That stuff matters to an organization and an owner no matter how rich they are.
YOUNG BONES VS. OLD BONES
It’s no secret that Russell Westbrook isn’t the player he used to be. The future Hall of Famer is no longer averaging triple-doubles or having the overall impact he once did. And that’s to be expected. After all, Westbrook is 35 years old. He turns 36 in November. While he wasn’t at his best in the postseason, Westbrook did showcase how he can help the team throughout the regular campaign thanks to his defense, rebounding, and one-speed style.
But for the Clippers, the better long-term option might be to give 23-year-old Bones Hyland a legitimate look. Hyland began this past season as the backup point guard before the team acquired James Harden from Philadelphia which pushed Hyland into third-string duty. Hyland flashed here and there, but there wasn’t truly a role for the guard anymore. With the Clippers needing to get younger and more dynamic, perhaps shifting to Hyland off the bench is a way to improve on the margins as they also need to see just what they have in Hyland before he hits restricted free agency after the upcoming season.
GOING AGAINST THE NORM
It seemed like a major travesty that guard Norman Powell wasn’t a finalist for Sixth Man of the Year. In a lot of ways, it undersold what Powell accomplished this past season for the Clippers as he averaged 13.9 points on 48.6% shooting overall and 43.5% on 3s. Over the last three seasons, Powell is a 41.9% 3-point shooter which is the third-best mark in the entire league among players with at least 900 attempts.
As mentioned earlier, Powell turns 31 later in May. And the Clippers are going to have a decision to make considering he has two years and $39.7 million left on his contract. It’s not a bad deal. Powell rebuilt the value on it throughout the season and did showcase himself quite well in the postseason as he shot nearly 45% on 3s and helped space the floor for a Clippers team that needed every ounce of shooting.
But with so few avenues to replenish their depth and get younger, perhaps dealing Powell and acquiring two players that fit his salary range would be the better option for the team. For instance, and this is purely hypothetical with no sourcing but rather to illustrate the point, the Clippers could deal Powell to the Orlando Magic for Moritz Wagner and Joe Ingles. The duo makes $19 million while Powell makes $19.2 million, thus the Clippers would meet the second apron requirement of not taking back more money than they’re sending out, and it’d give them a bit more depth as it’s a two-for-one deal.
It’s just one of the many things the Clippers will have to look at this offseason as they need to get more usable depth while also not sending out more money than they take in.
RUNNING IT BACK, BUT NOT HOW YOU THINK
“We’re going to have to be better and we’re going to have to identify really, really good players on the margins,” Lawrence Frank said to reporters during his presser after the end of the season. “Guys that will play — I hate to use the word ‘minimum’ because in relative terms it’s a lot, a lot of money. We’ll look at any opportunities in the draft, any opportunities via trade.”
All signs point to the Clippers running it back in some capacity, but the margins will be what’s different with this team, and the Clippers do need to get younger.
Of the team’s top 10 players in minutes played for last season, only three of them were under 30 years of age — Terance Mann, Ivica Zubac, and Amir Coffey. When you have a team as old as the Clippers, you need to find youthful players who can contribute around them to do the things the older players aren’t able to do as much. That matters, and it’s something the Clippers know they’ll need to figure out.
“We invested a couple years ago in having a ton of wings because it gives you great versatility,” Frank said. “I think we probably were at least another wing short [this season]. Obviously, size, length, athleticism are important things and you’d love to be able to add some youth to the group.”
The Clippers are an old team, but young players are floating around whom the team will have to see what they have to offer. Not just the triumvirate of Mann, Zubac, and Coffey. But also the likes of Bones Hyland, Kai Jones, Brandon Boston Jr., etc. It might not yield the high-level results the Clippers will want to see in the regular season. However, they do need to develop players who can grow into the types of ancillary pieces that can be vital during a potential championship run rather than relying solely on older players.
As they enter their brand-new home, the Intuit Dome, the LA Clippers face their most important offseason ever. And, as a result, it requires a lot of hard decisions, ones that might not be that popular with some of the outside groups. Yet, it’s necessary.
It’s not an enviable situation, especially with the second apron’s ramifications ready to take hold.