Offseason Approach
Keep building around Kawhi or time to start over?
Actual Cap Space
-$95.8 million
Practical Cap Space
-$91.8 million
Projected Luxury Tax Space
$45.2 million
Under Contract (8)
Cam Christie (non-guaranteed)
Kris Dunn (non-guaranteed)
Darius Garland
Isaiah Jackson
Derrick Jones Jr.
Kawhi Leonard
Yanic Konan Niederhauser
Sean Pedulla (non-guaranteed)
Potential Free Agents (10)
Nicolas Batum (unrestricted – team option)
Bradley Beal (unrestricted – player option)
Bogdan Bogdanovic (unrestricted – team option)
John Collins (unrestricted)
Brook Lopez (unrestricted – team option)
Bennedict Mathurin (restricted)
Jordan Miller (restricted – team option)
Norchad Omier (restricted – two-way)
Kobe Sanders (restricted – team option)
TyTy Washington Jr. (unrestricted – two-way)
Dead Cap (0)
None
Projected Signing Exceptions
Non-Taxpayer MLE ($15 million)
Bi-Annual Exception ($5.5 million)
Notable Trade Exceptions
None
First Round Draft Picks
#5
Notable Extension Candidates
Bogdan Bogdanovic (veteran extension)
Cam Christie (veteran extension)
John Collins (veteran extension – through June 30)
Kris Dunn (veteran extension – as of July 18)
Darius Garland (veteran extension)
Derrick Jones Jr. (veteran extension – as of July 9)
Kawhi Leonard (veteran extension)
Analysis
(Note: This preview is being written without factoring in any punishment for the Clippers and/or Kawhi Leonard due to alleged salary cap circumvention. As that situation remains unresolved, any form of punishment delves too far into speculation to factor it in. Should any form of punishment be handed down that drastically changes the offseason outlook for the Clippers, we’ll revisit things then.)
This is a critical offseason for the LA Clippers. The main question to be answered is: Should the Clippers continue to build around Kawhi Leonard or is it time to start over?
Clippers leadership from owner Steve Ballmer to front office leader Lawrence Frank have said that they intend to keep Leonard. If that’s the case, then this offseason is more about tinkering than making major changes.
If Leonard is in the fold, the team will likely stay over the cap by picking up several of their team options. Players like Nicolas Batum, Brook Lopez and Bogdan Bogdanovic might be in the waning days of their careers, but they can all still play rotation roles. If nothing else, their contracts would go a long way towards matching salary in trades.
Of the easy decisions with LA’s free agents, Bradley Beal is likely to pick up his $5.6 million player option. After coming off a lost season, Beal can lock in a decent payday and try to rehab his value.
The Clippers should pick up their team options for Jordan Miller and Kobe Sanders. The no-brainer one is Sanders, as he’s already outplaying his $2.2 million salary for next season, and LA can make him a restricted free agent in the summer of 2027.
Miller could see his option declined in order to work out a long-term deal with LA. If not, the Clippers likely aren’t that worried about Miller being unrestricted next summer. At least not worried enough to give up having Miller for just $2.5 million next season.
Kris Dunn (unless he’s named to the All-Defensive Team for 2025-26, which would guarantee his deal) and Cam Christie are both non-guaranteed, but should have their deals guaranteed for $2.3 million and $5.7 million respectively. Both return solid value on those contracts.
Bennedict Mathurin can be made a restricted free agent. He’s a terrific scorer, but has shown much more than that. If the Clippers feel they need his scoring, they could re-sign him. If they’re leery of locking into long-term money for Mathurin, he could languish in restricted free agency before returning on a team-friendly contract late in the offseason. A reasonable deal for Mathurin is something in the range of $50 million over three years. That’s a touch over the MLE, but doesn’t break the bank or drift towards being difficult to trade.
John Collins is in an interesting place. He was fairly productive for LA, but was a bit pricey for the role they had him in. Collins could have similar offers moneywise from teams that are closer to contention than the Clippers are. Unless a deal is short-term and comes in around the Non-Taxpayer MLE amount, LA will likely let Collins walk.
Aside from the free agents, in the scenario where the Clippers want to stay contenders, they’ll be building around Leonard and Darius Garland. The bones of a playoff team are in place, especially if they can get off to a better start than they did last season. There’s enough tradable salary to get an upgrade or too, even if it would sacrifice some depth. The Clippers draft pick situation has also cleaned up considerably moving forward, as they own at least one first-round pick in every draft moving forward, outside of 2028. That includes the fifth overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
That pick is where things could really swing for LA. If the team is pushing for the playoffs, that’s a nice trade asset to have. Or the Clippers could add a talent that should slot in alongside the veterans in a complementary way.
If the team chooses to start over, whoever they pick at No. 5 should be the centerpiece of the rebuild. Keaton Wagler, Darius Acuff Jr., Kingston Flemings or Mikel Brown Jr. should be on the board. All four would be good lead guards to build around.
If the Clippers are trying to contender, Wagler is the best choice of that group. He has the size and off-ball game to play alongside Garland. The others are more on-ball threats and don’t fit as well next to Garland in the backcourt.
Given the uncertainty around Kawhi Leonard (see the note above!), it’s a little hard to peg the LA Clippers direction this summer. The mostly likely path is that the team more or less runs it back with additions via the draft, the Non-Taxpayer MLE and smaller trades. Outside of the first-round pick, LA likely won’t take on much long-term money this summer. In the summer of 2027, the Clippers could have upwards of $90 million in cap space. That means that if this isn’t the big summer of movement for LA, next summer will be. Unless, of course, there are lingering punishments hanging over the franchise. If that’s the case, who knows what things will look for the Clippers?