The Los Angeles Clippers project to have between $54 million and $75 million in cap space this offseason.

"It's hard to do," Doc Rivers said of being an organization in competitive transition. "Fortunately, because of that big three, we were able to get enough out of that to pretty much stay competitive, and because of those guys, we were able to get things."

During a series of brainstorming sessions in September of 2017, the Clippers debated whether they could be a competitive top-four seed during the next four- to six-year period. Lawrence Frank, Michael Winger and Jerry West concluded that would be an unlikely scenario with their current roster, which led to the Blake Griffin trade and not keeping DeAndre Jordan long-term.

The Clippers didn't initially have 2019 in mind to pursue free agents until Kawhi Leonard wanted out of San Antonio with Los Angeles as his preferred landing spot, as well as free agents such as Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving having uncertain situations.