Paul Pierce is starting to become very popular. The veteran has yet to state his intentions regarding the 2015-16 season as he considers if retirement is the better move for himself. However, that is not stopping teams from considering him as a potential option for the next year. Pierce has proven he is still a very capable competitor and while the Washington Wizards are ready for his return, the Los Angeles Clippers have their eye on him as well.
According to Robert Morales of InsideSoCal.com, the Clippers remain very interested in Pierce as free agency approaches. The Clippers like the idea of adding a small forward to the team and they believe Pierce is the best fit. The veteran still has one more year remaining on his contract, but it is a player option meaning he could easily opt out and head west. Pierce joining the Clippers has been speculated for some time now. There is the obvious connection with head coach Doc Rivers, but Pierce is also a Los Angeles native and could favor coming home for the remainder of his career.
The issue for Los Angeles is money. The team is already tight on cap space to begin with. The team's first priority before signing Pierce is getting DeAndre Jordan inked to a max contract which would come to the tune of $108.3 million over five years. That would leave them to getting talent on minimum contracts unless they make a few trades or releases. Pierce would have to be willing to accept a pay cut in order to play for the Clippers.
"We're talking about the bench," Rivers said, via the Los Angeles Times, "so I have to do a better job. We don't need to go and get a max player, except for the one we have. We need to add pieces, and it's going to be hard, because we are restricted."
Letting go of Jordan would certainly free up salary cap space for the team. The Dallas Mavericks would be willing to help out. According to Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com, the Mavericks want to negotiate a sign-and-trade that would send Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton to Los Angeles in exchange for Jordan. Is that likely to happen? Who knows, but there is growing interest in the Clippers center and after reports of tension with Chris Paul, he could easily head elsewhere.
Re-signing Jordan and acquiring Pierce could set the Clippers up for success. Trading certain players would create more room. Jamal Crawford, Gen Davis and Matt Barnes all have contracts that are easily disposable. If the Clippers want to offer something more than a minimum deal, that is necessary.