Clippers face more tough times

It officially sputters out tonight, a Clippers season that detoured into a turnstile at the trainer’s table. Now comes the off-season with plenty of questions:

Does Elton Brand opt out of the last year of his contract? Does Corey Maggette do the same? Who is the team’s starting point guard? How does Shaun Livingston fit into plans? What about their lottery pick?

What happens to the rest of the team with only five players signed for next year, not counting Brand or Maggette?

Exhale . . . slowly.

“This is an important year for management,” Maggette said. “Not just me, but there’s a few other guys on this team they have to make decisions on as well.”

It’s a Clippers management that, fair to say, has had its share of issues. This season will be noted for its injuries, chiefly ones that held Livingston out for its entirety and Brand for all but eight games. Sam Cassell staging his personal exodus deserves a footnote as well.

There was also a midseason feud headlined by owner Donald T. Sterling and Coach Mike Dunleavy that depicted an organization at odds.

As the season wore on, injuries mounted, so journeymen played against opposing team’s starters. By season’s end, the roster will have missed a league-high 319 games and the Clippers will have shuffled through 37 different starting lineups.

There were some internal rumblings, however, that the team should have still been more competitive with a veteran core and that it did not adapt after Brand ruptured his Achilles’ tendon in August.

One Clippers player says he grades Dunleavy a C-minus on the season because the team would have benefited from running an open-court style of play.

The few bright spots?

Al Thornton, who will be Maggette’s heir should he depart, sparkled through much of his rookie season and center Chris Kaman was posting career-best numbers before injuries limited him to the fewest games of his career.

Dunleavy said he was still confident everything will come together this off-season. He envisions the team will retain Brand and Maggette, make a good draft selection and bolster one of the strongest front-courts next season.

In other words, wait until next year, which is a familiar Clippers rallying cry.

Dunleavy is aware of what the team is up against, after watching the losses pile up and witnessing the Western Conference grow deep, more top heavy.

“Obviously, we need to go to the fullest extent of what we can expend, which I think we will,” he said, “just put all of the resources together -- a good draft pick and then the free-agent market.”

First up are in-house matters.

Maggette is expected to opt-out of the final season of his contract and test what is shaping up to be a limited-spending free-agent market. Publiclyhe has said he wants to remain with the Clippers, although it’s believed he is still undecided on returning.

“I understand the business, the limit they can go to,” Maggette said. “It’s up to them. It’s not up to me. They already know where I want to be. I want to be here. If I can’t, then it’s just a part of business and I had a great time being here.”

Brand is also believed to be leaning toward opting out. He has repeatedly said that if negotiations go right between the team and David Falk, his agent, that he will return. If so, it will probably be under a new contract.

“You look at security, what’s on the table and what you have coming in the next year and what’s on the table for how long,” Brand said of his thought process. “For a new team, you look at is that team a better situation for you? And then you’ve got to look at salary again.”

Maggette and Brand said they would wait until the playoffs end before making their decisions.

Of the pair, Dunleavy noted: “Nothing is for certain, but I think if I had to place a bet today, I’d place a bet that they would both be back.”

Instead, he places heavy emphasis on Livingston’s health status and gaining “a piece” in the NBA draft as pressing concerns.

Point guard was a position of concern before the season began. It grew to a sore spot as it wore on.

Livingston is still recovering from a serious knee injury that has sidelined him for 14 months, leaving his point-guard-of-the-future status up in the air. He is due a $5.8-million qualifying offer this summer, a tricky proposition because Clippers management has not been able to evaluate his recovery on the court.

Even if he is healthy, the Clippers are expected to select a guard in the draft, a group that will probably include USC’s O.J. Mayo, Texas’ D.J. Augustin, Indiana’s Eric Gordon and Arizona’s Jerryd Bayless. And if luck finds them, the Clippers will have no trouble drafting Memphis guard Derrick Rose, if they get one of the top two picks.

“The more certain we are [Livingston] comes back, the more versatility we have with the pick,” Dunleavy said. “And even having said that, you are always going to have an override. The override is if there’s an asset out there that makes sense.

“You are always going to go for the best player because you can turn your best player into whatever your need potentially is.”

Potentially, the Clippers can evolve into a quality team next season.

Also potentially, next season’s team will have little resemblance to the team in the recent past -- for better or for worse.

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jonathan.abrams@latimes.com