Jackson has worked out at Clippers facility with decision looming

Any negotiating the Clippers are doing remained behind the scenes Thursday, the fourth day of NBA free agency.

Even though there still hasn’t been word on when or whether superstar Kawhi Leonard or last postseason’s hero Reggie Jackson will re-sign with the team, rookie Jason Preston offered a possible hint of Jackson’s position.

Preston said Jackson, the 31-year-old point guard who played himself into fans’ hearts with a sizzling postseason stretch (averaging 17.8 points per game while shooting 48.4% from the floor), is among the Clippers who have been working out at the team’s practice facility in Playa Vista. Jackson is an unrestricted free agent; his early Bird status means he can sign with the Clippers for as much as $47 million for four years.

“Yeah, there’s been a few guys working out already when I got there, like Luke Kennard and Terance Mann. Reggie Jackson was there the other day,” Preston said on a Zoom call ahead of Summer League play, which begins Monday in Las Vegas for him and the rest of the Clippers’ young prospects.

“And obviously Jay Scrubb and Amir (Coffey). They’ve been very welcoming and opening, and open to me coming in.”

Leonard’s plans also remained securely, characteristically under wraps. The Clippers can offer the five-time All-Star different deals, options that include one for four years and $176 million (which would be less than the four-year, $181.5 million contract extension he could have signed if he hadn’t opted out).

Another seemingly more probable possibility: A two-year contract with a second-year player option, which would allow him to opt out after next season and then sign a five-year deal worth about $235 million next summer.

Preston, who was drafted 33rd by Orlando last week and then traded to the Clippers for a 2026 second-round selection, offered no news on which way Leonard might be leaning.

The 30-year-old from Moreno Valley is a twotime NBA Finals MVP who last season made the All-NBA first team for the third time in his career. But he’ll be sidelined indefinitely while he recovers from July 13 surgery to repair a torn right anterior cruciate ligament.

Already, his good friend and former Toronto teammate Serge Ibaka opted in for the $9.7 million second season of his deal with the Clippers.

And Clippers assistant coach Jeremy Castleberry — another of Leonard’s friends and a former Riverside King High and San Diego State teammate — is the head coach of the Clippers’ Summer League team.