The Los Angeles Clippers have no clear-cut No. 1 candidate to replace Doc Rivers and sources tell Jovan Buha of The Athletic that the decision to part ways with Doc Rivers was not made with another coach "waiting in the wings to be hired."

Rivers was already head coach when Steve Ballmer purchased the team in 2014.

The Clippers don't have a stylistic mandate for their coach, but would like him to be a high-level game strategist. 

Ty Lue and Jeff Van Gundy are among the candidates for the job, though they'll also consider candidates without prior head coaching experience in hopes of finding their own version of Lue, Steve Kerr or Nick Nurse who each won a title in their first season as head coach.