State of the Current Clippers Roster: Who Is On the Team? What Do They Need?

The Los Angeles Clippers have officially entered the post-Kawhi Leonard era. After seven years of hitching their wagon to Leonard's, the Clippers have kick-started a rebuild. Now, they have Darius Garland, Keaton Wagler, and Brandon Ingram as the centerpieces of their team, and have several young players with upside they are hoping to develop.

Five days into free agency, it's a good time to take stock of who is actually on the roster, what the depth chart looks like, and what the team needs.

The Clippers have 13 players on the roster on standard NBA deals. This means that they have two open roster spots. Teams don't have to fill all 15 spots, but given that the Clippers have cap space and financial flexibility, one has to assume that they will bring in two more players. Restricted free agent Bennedict Mathurin and veterans Bradley Beal and Nicolas Batum remain as potential options for those spots.

Current Clippers Depth Chart

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Darius Garland	Keaton Wagler	Brandon Ingram	Derrick Jones Jr.	Brook Lopez
Kris Dunn	Gradey Dick	Jordan Miller		Yanic Konan Niederhauser
Kobe Sanders	Cam Christie			Isaiah Jackson

As things stand now, the roster imbalance is clear. The Clippers have a ton of depth in the backcourt and have a dearth of quality options in the frontcourt. There is no power forward-sized player on the roster. Derrick Jones Jr. can guard some power forwards and can start there to begin the season, but he lacks the physicality to be the full-time starter all season.

It's not like the Clippers have a ton of size and physicality elsewhere on the roster. The Garland-Wagler backcourt lacks physicality and athleticism. The Clippers have to make up for this weakness elsewhere, but Ingram doesn't necessarily help on that front either. Lopez certainly has the size, but he is very slow-footed and has limited versatility at this stage of his career.

It is clear that the Clippers need to add more size in the frontcourt. Re-signing Mathurin or Beal will not solve any of these problems. If anything, it would only exacerbate the existing issues. What the Clippers need is a rotation-caliber power forward who can replace John Collins.

Fortunately, the Clippers have the resources to add to this roster. They still have their full non-taxpayer midlevel exception, starting at $15 million next season, that they can use in free agency. They have also added significant draft capital through the Ivica Zubac and Leonard deal that they could use if they had a trade target in mind.

Even if the Clippers don't want to use draft capital in a win-now move, they have some players who should have some appeal on the trade market. Kris Dunn, Derrick Jones Jr., and Brook Lopez would have some suitors and could bring back younger players for the Clippers.

There are still a ton of moving parts in the Clippers' offseason. The new-look roster will look even more different than it does right now due to the Clippers' big holes. How GM Lawrence Frank will fill these holes will be fascinating to watch over the next few weeks.

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