Help-Wanted Ad for Los Angeles Clippers' Newly Open Center Position

Every decision needs a backup. Plan B isn't even possible for the Los Angeles Clippers.

DeAndre Jordan took just long enough to decide he would sign a four-year, $80 million contract with the Dallas Mavericks that L.A.'s most viable replacement options are mostly off the free-agent market.

Tyson Chandler is moving to the Phoenix Suns. Robin Lopez is shacking up across the river from his brother in New York City. The moment Jordan, who made Third-Team All-NBA and First-Team All-Defense for the Clippers this past season, chose to go to Dallas, he determined the Clippers' fate—and it's not a good one for a team that drops from contending for a title to fighting for a playoff spot in the brutal-as-ever Western Conference.

The immediate hope had to be finding a way to sign at-the-time free-agent Kosta Koufos, who has been one of the best backup centers (if not the singular best) playing behind Marc Gasol in Memphis the past couple of years. It would've had to be a sign-and-trade, but maybe he would've been able to take a little less money to come to L.A., where he could be a guaranteed starter for 82 games, and maybe the Grizzlies would've been open to taking back a shooter like J.J. Redick or Jamal Crawford to even out salaries in the deal.

But that possibility squandered away when Koufos signed a four-year, $33 million deal with the Kings over the holiday weekend. 

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So, plan A, re-signing D.J, is out the window. Plan B, Chandler, disintegrated before Jordan even walked. Plan C chose the Kings, the organization with which no one wants to be associated.

Is plan D even a thing? Has anyone ever even had a plan D? If your plans A, B and C are so unsuccessful that you need a plan D, is your plan D even worth formulating?

People forget, but Spencer Hawes was supposed to be here for this exact situation. Part of the reason the Clips spent on Hawes (not just the money, but also the four years) was for Jordan insurance.

A year ago, it was popular opinion D.J. would be coming back to the Clips, but the team figured, in a best-case scenario, Hawes would be the perfect third big man to complement both Blake Griffin and Jordan. And in a worst-case scenario, he could be an interim center for 2015-16 before the team went out to pursue a bigger name during the summer of 2016.

Hawes was so unplayable during his sole year in L.A., though, that no one is even questioning Clippers president of basketball operations Doc Rivers' decision to deal him for Stephenson before knowing he had Jordan locked up, a feat which obviously never happened. And bashing Rivers' moves as an exec is the new NBA trend. Since that's not happening in this scenario, it really shows how few signs Hawes displayed that he would work with the Clips.

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

So, what do you do?

It's July 5, already. The market is drying up as each quality free agent evaporates. The one-year fix while keeping the future of the franchise in mind is the only way to go. Not even because it's the smartest way, but because there are no other options.

Make a trade and maintain 2016 cap flexibility, one of the only positive team-building aspects the organization can boast.

The Clips didn't have a draft pick this year. They likely don't have one in 2017. That first-rounder belongs to the Toronto Raptors and is top-14 protected. They still have only seven players under contract for the upcoming season, not including Jordan Hamilton and Lester Hudson, both of whom have non-guaranteed deals for the upcoming year. But even waiving "the H's" wouldn't do much, considering a group of small but significant cap holds would still push L.A. up against the salary cap.

With Paul Pierce's deal as currently constructed taking up most of the mid-level exception, they can't realistically sign anyone of consequence. So, it'll be trade time in L.A. But for whom?

Crawford is the only real movable asset—unless L.A. would be willing to depart with Redick, whose contract (two years and $14.5 million remaining) now seems like a strict bargain, considering we're living inside a market that just saw Arron Afflalo get $8 million a year.

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It's only human to dream big, but that's not a pragmatic scenario anymore. Even the possibility of a three-way sign-and-trade agreement between the Clips, Mavericks and Indiana Pacers that would send Monta Ellis—who just signed with Indy—to the Pacers, Jordan to the Mavericks and Roy Hibbert to the Clippers is out of the question now that Hibbert will likely be traded to the other team in Los Angeles.

So, do you really feel comfortable hitching your wagon to the ever-inconsistent JaVale McGee, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported the Clippers are considering? Are you comfortable bringing in Amar'e Stoudemire, whose health is even more problematic than McGee's and whose defense at the 5 spot would be the polar opposite of Jordan's?

A minimum contract is rarely a bad one, but when it comes with maximum reliance, it can create a backbreaking situation. 

It's not like the Clips can be specific with the style of player they want, whether that's going for a 5 who can play similarly to Jordan so they don't have to adjust their system much or finding a center who can shoot a little to open up the inside for Griffin. At this point, the pool of available talent is shallow enough that they don't really have the luxury of being particular.

Do you try to swap Crawford for Zaza Pachulia since the Milwaukee Bucks now have a dearth of centers after signing Greg Monroe? Similarly, could you find a way to take on Miles Plumlee? Do you try to swing Crawford to the Pacers for Ian Mahinmi since Indy just re-signed Lavoy Allen, who could conceivably play backup center? What would Washington Wizards general manager Ernie Grunfeld say if Doc called him up and asked for Kris Humphries?

So many questions. So few attractive answers.

It's not like the Clippers have sweeteners to add to Crawford so that a deal can become more enticing. There's a second-round pick here and there, but the team can't give away a first-rounder until 2019. And frankly, a squad that's reconstructing its roster shouldn't be giving away anymore picks than it already has. The Clips haven't possessed a rookie contract worth having since drafting Al-Farouq Aminu...

Five. Years. Ago.

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

The second-rounders in 2011 and 2012 didn't work out for them. 2013 first-rounder Reggie Bullock is off the roster. 2014 first-rounder C.J. Wilcox barely saw the floor as a rookie. They didn't pick until No. 56 a few weeks ago. They (probably) won't have a pick in 2017.

It wouldn't be prudent to give away another one of those selections for 2019, especially because you're not getting the biggest of difference-makers for Crawford, who is coming off his worst year as a Clipper, which he followed up with an even more concerning postseason performance.

The Pachulia/Plumlee/Humphries-types are on reasonable contracts and could be one-year fillers before L.A. heads into 2016 without those picks. The Clips don't have the assets to garner anyone who could be meaningful down the line, but they will have cap space next summer as they head into July 2016 with Griffin, Paul, Redick, Pierce, Lance Stephenson (who's 2016-17 salary is actually a team option) and Wilcox on the roster with room for a max contract.

You know the Kevin Durant rumors are coming, right? Even if they're not realistic, you know they're shooting out of nowhere any second now.

Wait...hold on...

Oh, there it is.

When the cap shoots up to around $90 million next summer, the Clips will have room. And centers such as Al Jefferson, Joakim Noah, Timofey Mozgov, Roy Hibbert and Hassan Whiteside will be unrestricted. Even Dwight Howard has an early-termination option he could exercise. And that's not even getting into the non-centers, like Durant, with whom the Clippers will involve themselves.

Darren Abate/Associated Press

For now though, the Clips are treading water as playoff contenders who have dropped from title-contender status.

This is a team that ranked 15th in points allowed per possession this past season with one of the better rim-protecting centers accounting for much of the positive it showed on the defensive end. How will that change with Jordan gone, with a downgrade at the 5, with L.A. going to small-ball lineups that position Griffin at center and Pierce at power forward more often? 

The offense obviously falls with the departure of Jordan's screening and pick-and-roll game, but it's still dominant and skilled enough to be one of the best in the league. This has been, after all, the NBA's No. 1 attack two years running. But if the Clips become a bottom-10 D, how can we honestly refer to them as contenders when only two teams since the merger have earned rings with defenses outside the top 10: the 2001 Lakers and 1995 Rockets, both of whom were repeat champions who had specific reasons for defensive turnarounds during the postseason.

This year could be a wash. It's time to find a stopgap without compromising the future. It's time to plan for 2016 and beyond.

Follow Fred Katz on Twitter at @FredKatz.

All statistics are current as of July 5 and are courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com unless noted otherwise.