Clippers’ Cole Aldrich will opt out of contract to test free agency

This isn’t unexpected given his performance and the rising salary cap, but Cole Aldrich’s decision to opt out of his contract and test free agency puts more pressure on the Los Angeles Clippers.

After being a relative afterthought in comparison to the rest of the Los Angeles Clippers’ signings last summer, Cole Aldrich ended up being the most dependable player on the bench. Of course, streaky Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford provided his typical scoring spark, but Aldrich’s size and interior presence was vital. So, now that he’s opting out of his minimum $1.22 million player option for 2016-17, the pressure is on the Clippers to somehow keep him around or find a new backup center.

Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times reported Aldrich’s decision to look for more offers or a possible raise in L.A.

Once Josh Smith was dealt back to Houston and the Clippers gave up their woeful super-small-ball bench rotations, Aldrich received a genuine role that allowed him to average 13.3 minutes per game for the season.

That may not sound like much and there’s never going to be ton of minutes for whoever backs up DeAndre Jordan, but 14.8 points,13 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2.1 steals and 3.1 blocks per 36 minutes is all the Clippers could possibly ask for from Aldrich or any other secondary center. Unlike Smith, Aldrich added genuine size, effort, and consistency in his focused role that held together so many weak bench rotations. He provided a reasonable pick-and-roll option to get the ball inside on offense, and added more rim protection and rebounding than anyone else not named DeAndre.

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Add his constant hustle and physical nature into the equation, and Aldrich is clearly worth far more than the $1.1 million that the Clippers paid him this season, inevitably leading to notable offers from other teams this summer.

The Clippers will likely have less than $10 million in cap space this summer, leaving them without many options but re-signing as many current players as possible and pursuing anyone else if they’re willing to take a small contract.

In order to bring Aldrich back, who is easily worth a solid pay rise as the cap increases to $92 million, the Clippers may be forced into using their $5.6 million mid-level exception to keep him around. He may only be looking for a slight raise and Doc has said all his players want to return, but it still doesn’t make things easier.

If the Clippers are unable to keep Aldrich, they’ll need to look elsewhere and hope to find someone who can make just as much of an impact for only few million.

Next: 5 big men the Clippers should pursue in free agency

Sadly for the Clips, that’s easier said than done in their tricky financial situation.