The frozen Kawhi Leonard deal has kept the Clippers in limbo for a month, but once it closes, the front office still has real work on its list.
The Clippers have spent July in a holding pattern no other front office has to think about.
The trade agreed on June 30 would send Kawhi Leonard to Toronto for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, a 2027 pick swap and two second-rounders, per ESPN's Shams Charania, yet the deal cannot be completed while the league's investigation into the team remains open.
There is finally light at the end of that tunnel.
The Athletic's Mike Vorkunov said this week he believes the third-party investigation is over, with the league now reviewing the findings, and commissioner Adam Silver has already stated the matter needs to be wrapped up before the beginning of next season.
Los Angeles finished 42-40 and ninth in the Western Conference a year ago, so simply waiting is not a plan.
The organization has stayed patient through a process it cannot control, which is fair, but patience and passivity are not the same thing.
Once the Leonard trade goes through, these three moves should top the list.
The Bennedict Mathurin Situation
The restricted free agency of Mathurin is the most pressing item on the desk.
Reporting from Jake Fischer and Marc Stein has indicated the priority remains re-signing him, even as the team has explored sign-and-trade scenarios, and Mathurin could simply accept his $8.8 million qualifying offer and play out the year.
Letting the three biggest questions of the offseason linger into camp would be a mistake, and this one belongs at the front of the line.
A young scoring wing fits exactly where this roster is headed, and whatever the final structure looks like, certainty would help everyone involved, including the player.
Add a Veteran Big
Lopez remains the starter in the middle after the team picked up his option, but he averaged 8.5 points across 75 games last season and needs his workload managed.
Yanic Niederhauser projects as the backup center when healthy, which makes insurance the smart play.
The free agent market still offers proven size, as ESPN's Bobby Marks listed Nick Richards, Drew Eubanks and Kelly Olynyk among the notable unrestricted names available, and the Clippers still hold an open roster spot to use on one of them.
A team that intends to make noise in free agency does not need a splash here, just a dependable body.
Bring In One More Veteran Wing
The return for Leonard skews young, which is the point of the rebuild, though every rotation needs an adult on the wing who defends and accepts a role.
Veterans like that rarely swing a season on their own, but they steady the nights when young rotations wobble, which is exactly the stability a retooling team needs.
The question of whether the championship window truly closed with this trade will hang over the season either way, and the honest answer is that the next era begins now.
Finishing the offseason with purpose, rather than simply waiting out the league office, would be the right first step into it.
