What Are You Up To This Summer? Clippers, Suns, Lakers, Kings, Warriors

Let's talk about the Pacific Division

Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images

Over the next few days, I’m going to go division-by-division through the league and lay out what decisions need to be made and what’s at stake for each NBA team this offseason. We began with the Atlantic Division, then hit the Central and Southeast, continue today with the Pacific, and will finish out with the Northwest and Southwest over the next few days.

Some of these came out before the draft and some of them are coming out after it. That’s just the annoying way the schedule works out this year, with the draft and free agency starting within a few days of each other. Oh well, them’s the breaks.

Without further ado…

Pacific Division

LA Clippers

• Draft picks: Cam Christie (46)

• Key Potential FA: Paul George (PO), James Harden, Russell Westbrook (PO), P.J. Tucker (PO), Mason Plumlee

• Big Decisions: George UFA, Harden UFA, What the fuck to do if PG leaves

The Clippers are the big team that everyone is watching right now, because George is going to be the top free agent on the market if he gets there, and would obviously be highly sought after if he opts in and requests a trade. Best-case scenario for LA is he opts out and extends. Worst case is he opts out and leaves. Obviously. They’re pretty screwed if the latter happens, as they would have no way to replace him.

The Clippers are apparently playing hard-ball in negotiations in a way they didn’t with Kawhi Leonard, though that could be because Leonard agreed to extend for less than his full maximum and didn’t require the bells and whistles. Honestly, it makes sense for George to demand the max and a trade kicker and a no-trade clause if he were to opt out and stay in LA. The only reason to stay there and seek a better winning situation is because it’s LA and he wants to be near his family; and he’s dealing with the same franchise that called Blake Griffin a Clipper for life and traded him like eight months later. If he is leaving, Lawrence Frank & Co. need to do everything they can to convince him to either opt in, or else agree to a sign-and-trade to get to his desired location.

The Clips basically have to bring Harden back, too. Unless they want to let both players walk and try to use cap space to build around Kawhi. But what are they going to get that’s better than those guys? Especially given that they are moving into Steve Ballmer’s new arena, he’s going to want the star power there. Whether that should actually mean anything when it comes to team-building is another story, but we know it does to him.