When the Clippers signed Paul Pierce this summer, the team added a player with instant credibility inside the locker room. They signed, it seemed, the solution to their quest for their multi-year quest to upgrade at small forward.

This is, after all, a player who has been among the NBA’s best scoring wings since before Y2K.

In 17 NBA seasons, Pierce has averaged more than 20 points game, and even though his production has dipped the past two seasons as he’s aged, he’s still making a big impact, changing cultures and hitting big shots.

And with Matt Barnes now in Memphis, it would made sense for Pierce to slide into the starting lineup, a place where he’s been for all but 10 of his 1,400-plus career games.

But whispers out of the Clippers’ training facility in Playa Vista make it sound like that plan isn’t set in stone.

Wes Johnson, who the Clippers signed in free agency from the Lakers, is still being considered as an option to start, sending Pierce to the bench.

Bringing Pierce off the bench could be a way to limit minutes and preserve his legs for the postseason. It would also allow Rivers to use Pierce at multiple positions, perhaps at power forward in all-bench lineup with Josh Smith, Lance Stephenson, Jamal Crawford and Austin Rivers.

Doc Rivers recently told the Boston Globe he wanted to use Pierce as a small-ball four.

“I don’t want to overuse him, I know that,” he said to the Globe. “I don’t even know how we’re going to use him yet. I’m going to play him at (power forward) a lot, but what I want him to be is healthy in the playoffs. So however we can figure that out, that’s what I’m going to try to do. I’m really looking forward to it.”

While Pierce’s shooting from deep, and in particular the corners (42.3 percent last year), would fit well with the multi-weaponed Clipper starting five, Johnson’s more athletic and could still become a plus-defender because of his tools. (Teams, though, have tried this before).

Johnson’s not as good of a shooter as Pierce, especially in the corners, where he was about as proficient as Barnes last year.

There’s reason for optimism in the data, though. Using the shot-tracking numbers available through NBA.com, Johnson hit 42.5 percent of his “wide open” 3’s – those coming with 6 or more feet of room. Problem was, he only took 1.1 per game.

Barnes attempted 2.5 per game last year with the same amount of cushion, a product of playing with a juggernaut starting group.

Add in the 1.8 attempts with the closest defender between 4-6 feet, and the bulk of Barnes’ looks were pretty open.

Johnson didn’t have that space with the Lakers, but when he did, he made them count at a better clip than Barnes.

If Johnson can make more than 40 percent of his wide open looks, of which he should get plenty and if he can finally put together the tools that could allow him to be a stout wing defender, he could be a nice replacement for Barnes.

And if Pierce goes to the bench, in addition to using his versatility at multiple positions, he could act as a calming force inside a group that could be overflowing with chaos.

There are enough compelling reasons to at least consider letting Johnson start at small forward – and that’s apparently what Doc Rivers and the Clippers are doing.