The Whiteboard: What exactly are the Clippers up to?

Are the LA Clippers going to tank or make a real run at the postseason?

The Los Angeles Clippers, after years of resisting the urge, have completely blown up their old Lob City team. Now that they’ve shedded Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan, a question emerges: What now?

Even without those three on the books, the Clips have big money tied up in Danilo Gallinari, Tobias Harris, Marcin Gortat and Avery Bradley. Two of those players were holdovers from the past, but both Gortat and Bradley are new additions to LA’s cap sheet.

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Gortat is in town because the Clips decided to deal Austin Rivers to the Washington Wizards for him, and Bradley was just given a rich $25 million contract this summer. While this core clearly lacks the top-end talent to compete with the middle class of the West — never mind the juggernauts on top of the conference — it doesn’t seem like the Clippers are giving up on this season just yet.

With two first-round rookies on the roster, LA is not going all in on this year either. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jerome Robinson are the two most promising young players on the roster, and they represent the future of the franchise for now.

It’s possible that the Clippers are simply trying to toe the line and remain at least competitive while the young players get to develop, but there could be more at play here. After all, Shams Charania has said Kawhi Leonard is more open to the Clippers now that LeBron James is on the Los Angeles Lakers.

One thing that LA’s two newly added veterans have in common is they could both be gone and off the cap sheet next season. Bradley’s second year is not guaranteed and Gortat is about to enter the last year of his deal. The Clippers will have a whole lot of space that they could use on Kawhi next summer.

Their plan might not be exciting right now, but it seems as though Jerry West and company are not completely lost. Not yet at least.

Next: LeBron joins list of notable Lakers free agents

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