Where do the Clippers go from here?

The L.A. Clippers' season officially came to an end Sunday afternoon with the team's 113-100 defeat in Game 7 at the hands of the Houston Rockets. If you'd told me one week ago today that this was a sentence I would be typing, I'd have been completely bewildered. Yet here we are.

This was all very sudden. The Clips were leading their series three games to one, yet it finally appeared as though a mix of fatigue and complacency did them in early. They should be preparing for Game 1 with the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals today, but instead, Doc Rivers conducted his annual exit interview.

A few interesting notes came from Rivers today, via ESPN's Arash Markazi:

Will the Clippers offer DeAndre Jordan a max contract? Doc: "Yeah, I think I can say that."

— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) May 18, 2015

Doc said he hopes Austin is a long term fit with the Clippers and wished he had traded for him before the season.

— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) May 18, 2015

We can start with DeAndre Jordan, as he's obviously priority No. 1 for the franchise this summer. He's going to be an unrestricted free agent, and there's going to be tons of interest in him around the league. I've written about this in the past, but it's a no-brainer that the Clippers would offer him a max deal. Doc essentially confirmed it right there.

Some rumblings surfaced Monday that Jordan and Chris Paul apparently had some sort of "falling out" during the season, though details on what exactly that even means are scarce. We've heard in the past that CP3 can be a tough teammate at times, and a potential clash between those two personalities wouldn't come as much of a shock. Is that situation bad enough that Jordan would leave money on the table to go somewhere else? Time will tell, I suppose.

L.A. can offer Jordan a five-year deal worth $108.7M, which is substantially more than any other team can muster, per the league's collective bargaining agreement. A potential wild card in this situation will be the NBA's new television contract that kicks in following next season, however. With the salary cap expected to balloon from about $66M next season to over $90M for 2016-17, players will be able to sign more lucrative deals. It would make sense for several of this year's top free agents to perhaps ink contracts that give them an out following next season, so that they can sign another contract once salaries explode.

There's been plenty of panic among Clipper fans following the series loss to Houston, but the idea of "blowing it up" is ludicrous. It's evident to me that the core trio of Paul, Jordan and Blake Griffin is more than good enough to lead a team to a championship. The lack of depth is what truly ailed and ultimately failed this team.

Financially, there's almost no incentive for the Clippers to let D.J. walk in free agency. If he were to leave, the team would still be up against the cap, which would leave them with very little spending money to attempt to lure his replacement. The rules allow them to retain their own free agents, even if it means flying past the salary cap.

Other notable Clipper free agents are Austin Rivers, Glen Davis and Hedo Turkoglu. The team also holds a $5M team option on Jamal Crawford. You see Doc's quote about his son above, which makes it seem as though he's interested in bringing him back next season. This isn't unexpected, necessarily, because how awkward would it be for Doc to just kick his own kid to the curb? Once they traded for Austin, this was almost inevitable.

Rivers showed flashes during the playoffs, but he still has a long way to go as a player before he can be counted on as a legitimately reliable backup to Chris Paul. Per NBA.com's lineup data, the Clippers were -12.5 points per 100 possessions with Rivers on the court during the postseason, even with that 25-point outburst in Game 3 against Houston. He can be a rotation player if he's utilized better (likely as a shooting guard), but upgrading Paul's backup needs to be another Clipper priority this summer.

ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reported Monday morning that one potential target for L.A. this offseason could be Laker winger Wesley Johnson. Johnson, who was drafted No. 4 overall by Minnesota back in 2010, hasn't lived up to his draft position, but has turned into a fairly capable role player in the last couple of years. He's a solid individual defender that can hit the occasional three-pointer (Wes has connected on over 35% of his triples in each of the last two years). He'd be a nice addition to the Clippers' bench which currently consists of zero small forwards.

If they can retain Jordan and upgrade the 6-10 spots in their rotation, there's no reason the Clippers can't come back next year and make a deeper playoff run. This is still an incredibly young core of talent, and their window is by no means shut.