A year ago, the Clippers entered the summer with high hopes for the offseason and the season to come after posting a surprising 50-32 regular 2024/25 season record and holding their own in a highly competitive, seven-game first-round series vs. Denver despite having lost Paul George in 2024 free agency.
The newfound cap flexibility the Clippers generated as a result of George's departure allowed the team to bring in multiple quality role players and provided the front office with a more viable blueprint for maintaining a balanced roster going forward.
But the 2025/26 season was a turbulent one. The NBA launched an investigation last September into possible salary cap circumvention related to a "no-show" endorsement deal for Kawhi Leonard. One key offseason addition, Bradley Beal, underwent season-ending hip surgery in the fall, while another, future Hall-of-Famer Chris Paul, had an unceremonious split with the franchise less than two months into the season. The team got off a 6-21 start, leading to the decision to trade James Harden and Ivica Zubac at the deadline with an eye toward the future.
To be fair, the Clippers recovered admirably from that 6-21 start. Even without Harden and Zubac on the roster, the club clawed its way back above .500 by late March and finished at 42-40, earning a play-in spot. But those mid-season trades signaled that short-term contention was no longer a top priority for the organization, and L.A.'s very brief postseason run came to an end with a home loss to the Warriors in the 9/10 play-in game.
Following that abrupt postseason exit, the outlook in Los Angeles is cloudier than it was a year ago for multiple reasons. For one, the Clippers are still awaiting resolution on the NBA's probe into the team's and Leonard's relationships with the now-bankrupt green banking company Aspiration. While there haven't been any indications that Leonard's contract agreement with L.A. is in real danger of being voided as a result of that investigation, it remains very possible that the franchise will face some sort of penalty, such as lost draft picks, once it wraps up.
Even if the Clippers are cleared of wrongdoing by league investigators, there's uncertainty about what exactly the front office's plans are in the wake of the Harden and Zubac deals. Is L.A. still committed to trying to contend with Leonard as its centerpiece, as president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank insisted during his end-of-season press conference? Or did the team's willingness to move off veterans earlier this year suggest that a soft rebuild around Darius Garland and this year's No. 5 overall pick is around the corner?
The Clippers' Offseason Plans
Leonard is entering the final year of his current contract and will earn $50.3MM in 2026/27 before becoming eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2027. The two-time Finals MVP is also coming off arguably his best all-around season since he arrived in Los Angeles -- he finished seventh in MVP voting and was named to the All-NBA second team after averaging 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.9 steals per game on .505/.387/.892 shooting across 65 healthy outings (32.1 MPG).
With all that in mind, the question that will determine the direction of the Clippers' offseason is whether they seek an extension with Leonard, who will turn 35 in June, or sell high on the trade market, completing the roster reset they kicked off earlier this year by trading Harden and Zubac.
