BACK TO SQUARE ONE

Only two years ago, Sam Cassell hugged Elton Brand. Staples Center swayed to a tune of blue and red. The Clippers celebrated a playoff series win and got within a victory of reaching the Western Conference finals.

The Clippers were in uncharted territory with a seemingly bright future. Meanwhile, the Lakers, their Staples co-tenants, had already been ousted from the playoffs.

Now the Lakers are back among the NBA’s elite -- and the Clippers are back on the bottom.

Cassell is gone. Brand is finally close to returning from a ruptured Achilles’ tendon that has sidelined him since August. The Clippers are 20-39, stuck at the bottom of the Pacific Division, and their season-ticket holders complain of being grossly outnumbered by opposing fans at home games.

As the Clippers prepare to play the Lakers tonight for the third time this season, they may again face the arduous task of rebuilding.

Although the Clippers and owner Donald T. Sterling are intent on keeping Brand and their leading scorer, Corey Maggette, both players can opt out of the final year of their contracts in the off-season.

Point guard Shaun Livingston, 22, is still recuperating from multiple knee injuries he suffered more than a year ago. And, although all signs point to him progressing, he may not return to the court until the summer league and there are some doubts about his recovery because of the seriousness of his injuries.

A doomsday scenario -- one the Clippers’ management doesn’t foresee happening -- could leave the team next season without Brand and Maggette, with only center Chris Kaman, forward Al Thornton and a high draft pick this summer as the building blocks to construct the team.

“It’s a possibility for sure,” Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “I don’t think it’s likely, but anything is possible.”

If Brand and Maggette depart, it would create about $23.4 million in salary cap space for next season. The Clippers’ payroll of returning players with a core of Kaman, Thornton, guard Cuttino Mobley and forward Tim Thomas would add up to $29.5 million.

“If it does [happen], we have a lot of cap space to spend money on [other] players,” Dunleavy said. “All of a sudden we become the players with the money in the market.”

The Clippers would be able to go after an unrestricted free agent such as Antawn Jamison. Other players, including Baron Davis, Gilbert Arenas and Shawn Marion, can also become free agents this summer.

Livingston was viewed as the team’s long-term point guard until his injury. The Clippers must offer him a $5.8-million qualifying contract offer by June 30 or he becomes an unrestricted free agent. In his four NBA seasons, Livingston has played in only 145 games because of injuries.

The Clippers, with the sixth-worst record in the league, will have another lottery pick -- something of a franchise ritual -- and could use it for a point guard. Their current point guard, Brevin Knight, who averages 4.6 points and 4.3 assists a game, will return next year.

The consensus among NBA scouts is that Derrick Rose, a top point guard prospect from Memphis, will be gone by the time the Clippers pick. Arizona’s Jerryd Bayless, USC’s O.J. Mayo, Indiana’s Eric Gordon and UCLA’s Darren Collison are possibilities at the position, but will all have to declare early for the draft.

And even with a high pick, the Clippers are wary of giving the reins to a young player in a Western Conference deep with talented point guards. Beno Udrih, whom the Clippers tried to sign last summer, and Carlos Arroyo are among the few available point guards in the free-agent market.

Still, the Clippers may have problems persuading key free agents to come to a team that had a public feud in top management this winter. Also, the Clippers have made the playoffs only once this decade and are likely to lose 50-plus games for the fourth time in eight seasons.

Brand and Maggette can earn more money if they stay with the Clippers, which will be a major selling point to lure them back, as is a practice facility being built on the Westside. While both players say they are undecided, Maggette, earning $7 million, will probably test free agency.

Brand, who will earn $16.4 million next season if he stays, spoke of coming back to play late this season as a building block toward next year. He stopped just short of giving a full endorsement to the team.

“As long as everything is done fair, everything on the up and up . . . as far as negotiations or value or whatever it is that agents and owners go through, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem” to come back, Brand said.

Even if everything goes right for the Clippers, and Brand teams up with Kaman to become a bruising pair in the paint, and Maggette and Livingston return, they still have the Lakers to contend with.

“It got harder certainly because of the Lakers, but not from the standpoint of everyone else,” Dunleavy said. “I think the Lakers are the best team with the most talent. It’s the right time for everything, I think, for them. And everyone else [in the West] is really good, but I think we can compete with those teams for sure.

“If you put Kaman and Brand and Maggette and Thornton and Mobley and then we get a draft pick and we have the asset to go and do other things as well, we’ve got the tools to get it done.”

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jonathan.abrams@latimes.com