The Clippers have already moved on from Bennedict Mathurin, but the roster math still isn’t clean.
After withdrawing Mathurin’s qualifying offer, Los Angeles opened the door for him to sign his two-year, $16 million deal with the Pelicans. Even with that resolved, the Clippers still have more trimming to do before the regular season.
If their proposed Kawhi Leonard trade with Toronto goes through, the team could be sitting at 17 players on standard contracts, and NBA rules only allow 15 on the regular-season roster. That leaves two more cuts or moves to make.
Cam Christie looks like the easiest name to circle. His $2.3 million salary is non-guaranteed, so the Clippers could trade him or simply waive him if that’s the route they choose.
The second spot is where things get more complicated. Cem Yolbulan of NBA on SI listed Kris Dunn, Derrick Jones Jr., Brook Lopez, Gradey Dick, Isaiah Jackson and Johni Broome as possible candidates, though the level of difficulty would vary quite a bit depending on the player. Dick would be coming over from Toronto in the proposed Leonard deal, while Broome was acquired from Philadelphia earlier this offseason.
The squeeze got tighter because of the other additions already on the books. Los Angeles brought in Max Strus from the Cavaliers in the five-team Peyton Watson trade, then drafted Keaton Wagler and re-signed Bradley Beal. That’s a crowded room.
So one issue is off the table now that Mathurin is gone. But Lawrence Frank still has two more roster decisions to sort out before opening night.
In Other News...
Clippers Still Have One Draft Decision Hanging Over Their Roster
As the calendar turns deeper into late August, the Clippers still have some draft housekeeping left to sort out, even as most of the leagues 2026 selections have already found their footing. Across the NBA, six players from that class remain unsigned, a group shaped by everything from injuries to roster limits to whether a prospect plans to stay overseas or head back to college, and the market for those decisions has grown more orderly since the end of July.
For the Clippers, the lingering question sits in the same broad space teams have been using all summer to manage young players: two-way deals, G League paths, or a draft-and-stash setup that keeps future flexibility intact. That leaves one final roster decision hanging in the background for Los Angeles, with the club still weighing how to handle its unsigned pick as other teams continue to close out their own draft business. [Read more 🡒]
Clippers Just Opened A Door For Bennedict Mathurin In The West
The offseason market around the Western Conference took another turn when Los Angeles moved on from Bennedict Mathurin, a decision that cleared the path for the wing to reach unrestricted free agency. For a Clippers team that has been sorting through its own roster priorities, the move was a notable one because it removed the matching-rights layer and opened the door for Mathurin to choose his next stop without the usual restrictions.
New Orleans appears to have moved fastest, lining up a two-year, $16 million contract for Mathurin as it looks to keep adding young athletic talent to the mix. The Clippers, meanwhile, are left watching a player they could have controlled now head toward a fresh opportunity in the West, while the rest of the conference keeps reshuffling around them. [Read more 🡒]
Clippers Just Made A Bennedict Mathurin Move Fans Need To See
The Clippers latest roster maneuver around Bennedict Mathurin closes the book on a situation that had been hanging out there as the offseason moved along. By pulling back the qualifying offer, Los Angeles cleared the path for Mathurin to hit unrestricted free agency, ending any lingering tie between the sides and adding another wrinkle to a summer that has already kept the teams depth chart under a microscope.
From there, the next step came quickly for Mathurin, who has already lined up a two-year deal with the New Orleans Pelicans. New Orleans still has to clear one more roster spot before the season begins, so the signing is not quite a finished puzzle yet, but the move signals a fresh landing spot for a player the Clippers no longer had in their plans. [Read more 🡒]