The LA Clippers are racing toward the playoffs, but not necessarily in the fashion many had envisioned just a few short weeks ago. The Clippers were the best team in basketball at the end of January, but have seen a significant regression that has them teetering on the edge of losing home court for the first round of the postseason.
After Sunday's win over the Charlotte Hornets, Head Coach Tyronn Lue told me that in the playoffs, the matchup will dictate which guys play and which are not as well suited on the floor. In his mind, it is best to play nine or 10 guys in game one of the playoffs and then figure out who you want in your rotation going forward.
With that in mind, these are three Clippers players that could end up on the bench in two weeks.
Amir Coffey
For starters, it is hard to generate a list of players likely to be cut from a team's playoff rotation when that team is extremely veteran-laden to begin with. The Clippers have plenty of guys that are better fit in a postseason setting than a regular season one anyway, so it is not likely a ton of guys will see their usefulness diminished.
But one player who is a pretty solid bet to play less is Amir Coffey. The backup guard has played the second-most minutes per game of his career this season, but his playing time is likely to decrease in the playoffs.
He has seen less time on the floor in the playoffs compared to the regular season in each of his three postseason appearances thus far, and there are not enough differences in this year's Clippers roster to suggest that will change this time around.