Pacific 2019 NBA Free Agency Primer: Division in greatest flux

LA Clippers

Situation Entering Offseason:

Doc Rivers sure seemed shocked when Mike Budenholzer won Coach of the Year on Monday night. In fairness, what Doc did without a true superstar on his squad this season was arguably his best season at the helm.

It’s expected the Clippers will have that star (or stars) this coming season, but the question is whether it will be the one they’ve long coveted. Rumors out of Toronto are Kawhi Leonard seems to be leaning to return to the 6ix. The Raptors did everything to gain his trust and checked every box on his short list other than the weather and being his home town.

Leonard for what it’s worth is expected to take meetings with both LA teams and will meet with the Raptors last. In his final presser of the year Masai Ujiri wouldn’t get into specifics other than to say they’ll honor whatever decision Kawhi makes. That said, I’ve seen enough Ujiri media sessions to know he sure looks confident his gamble will extend into more than a season rental.

What could get tricky for the Clippers is Leonard isn’t scheduled to meet with them until Tuesday and by that point, other superstar free agents may already have agreed elsewhere. That won’t mean the team can’t backtrack (see DeAndre Jordan re-negging on the Mavericks to return t LA), but it will make for a frenzied few days.

Salary:

Cap Space: $ (6,030,724.00)
Floor Space: $ (42,015,071.00)
Max Space: $ 57,485,733.00
Projected Space: $ 51,833,309.00

*as per Keith Smith of Real GM

Key free agents to re-sign

Patrick Beverley is getting some sniffs from interested squads but his demands may seem high since he’s asking for a three year deal in excess of $40 million. That’s a lot to pay for a backup guard, but his defense and locker room are the stuff of legends, so we’ll see. Rodney McGruder would also seem a logical re-sign.

Of course everything will be dependent on Jerry West and the Clippers front office ability to lure in top end talent. It was thought for a very long time Kawhi Leonard and have long stated they were desirous of adding two top-end talents. Sam Amico of the paid for subscription The Athletic thinks that other star is Jimmy Butler.

At issue is whether Butler would 1) wait until Kawhi decided 2) be happy playing second fiddle to Kawhi 3) and perhaps most importantly if Jimmy will be more inclined to sign with a team like the Rockets who are making him their number one priority.

2019 Roster Depth:

• Montrezl Harrell
• Danilo Gallinari
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
• Jerome Robinson
• Landry Shamet
• Sindarius Thornwell
• Tyrone Wallace
• Lou Williams

Draft Picks:

• Mfiondu Kabengele
• Terance Mann

2019 free agents

Patrick Beverley
Johnathan Motley (Team officially pulled qualifying offer)
Angel Delgado (Restricted)
Wilson Chandler
Ivica Zubac (Restricted)
Garrett Temple
JaMychal Green
Rodney McGruder (Restricted)

2020 free agents

Danilo Gallinari
Montrezl Harrell
Sindarius Thornwell (Restricted)
Tyrone Wallace (Restricted)