The Clippers have some big decisions to make.
The Los Angeles Clippers disappointed towards the end of the season, and the Play-In loss to the Warriors leaves the franchise in an odd place.
That is where this franchise sits heading into the summer.
They were 6-21 at one point, the worst start anyone could have imagined for a team built around multiple future Hall of Famers, and then they somehow became the first team in NBA history to get above .500 after being 15 games below it.
An incredible stretch, sure, but they still missed the playoffs.
The Kawhi Question Comes First
Lawrence Frank did not dance around it during his end-of-season press conference.
"Our plan is to win with Kawhi," the Clippers' president of basketball operations said. "At the appropriate time, we'll sit down with Kawhi and, very similar to 2024, lay out our plan and if our goals are aligned, then we'd like to win with Kawhi."
Simple enough on paper.
Kawhi Leonard is heading into the last year of his deal at $50.3 million, and he just turned in a career-high 27.9 points per game with 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists on a .505/.387/.892 shooting split across 65 games.
Nobody is questioning whether he can still play at that level.
The problem is the ongoing league investigation into salary cap circumvention that has been looming over the franchise since September, and depending on how that plays out, it could seriously restrict what the Clippers are able to put on the table for an extension.
Sorting Through Free Agency
Leonard is only one piece of a much bigger puzzle this summer.
The Clippers have team options on Bogdan Bogdanovic, Brook Lopez and Nicolas Batum, all of whom can still contribute in smaller roles but whose departures would free up close to $70 million in cap space.
Bennedict Mathurin is a restricted free agent after arriving from Indiana at the deadline, John Collins will be an unrestricted free agent, and Bradley Beal, who lost most of his season to a fractured hip, holds a $5.6 million player option he will almost certainly exercise.
The most realistic path forward probably involves re-signing Mathurin and Collins on team-friendly deals while letting one or two of the veterans walk.
Darius Garland averaged 19.9 points and 6.4 assists in 19 games after the trade deadline and is locked in through 2027-28, which gives them a second core piece to pair alongside Leonard.
The Fifth Pick Changes Everything
Frank mentioned wanting to "add one significant piece to the roster" this summer.
The fifth overall pick in the 2026 draft is the clearest avenue to make that happen, whether the Clippers use it on a top guard prospect who can slot in next to Garland and Leonard or flip it in a trade for an established star if the right deal materializes.
That late-season run showed this group can compete when the pieces are healthy and clicking.
Getting back to that level, and then past it, is a different challenge altogether.
