LA Clippers: These contributors may not be returning to LA next season

Due for paydays

There are three major contributors to this team who are slated to be free agents that are due for a payday. While all of them will likely be recruited to come back it will be very tough to afford that so something will have to give. The guess is two of them will be playing elsewhere next year.

JaMychal Green only played 17.1 minutes per game in the playoffs and still averaged 6.1 points and 3.8 rebounds while shooting a blistering 43.5 percent from 3-point range. He is the perfect bench 3-and-D wing for a playoff team and has a player option next year for $5 million next season. His impact could earn him double that on the open market, given the per 100 possessions projections of 16.8 points and 10.4 rebounds. He should have plenty of suitors in playoff teams looking to bolster their roster by using their mid-level exception.

Marcus Morris may have spent more time trying to injure Luka Doncic or getting technical fouls for arguing with everyone, but the Clippers traded a first-round pick, a pick swap and a second-round pick to bring him in at the trade deadline so he should be a priority this offseason. He was one of the Clippers who continuously contributed to the team this postseason and was exceptionally efficient.

That leaves only Montrezl Harell. The newly-crowned Sixth Man of the Year was lost for most of the bubble, coming back from extremely trying personal circumstances and was never quite himself in Orlando. After averaging 18.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game during the regular season his production fell off a cliff and he only put up 10.5 points, 2.9 rebounds and 0.5 blocks. There were many times where the team was simply better with Ivica Zubac on the court and Doc Rivers likely only did not bench Harrell due to his impending free agency.

Despite costing himself plenty of money with this recent play Harrell enters a free agent market as one of the biggest names available and will be still looking at a major raise on his $6 million salary this year. If the Clippers think that their play with him and Williams in the postseason exposes them to weaknesses that did not exist in the regular season, then letting him walk and using that money to flesh out the roster more could be coming soon. It will undoubtedly be a wild offseason for this team.