Tommy Sheppard cleared the record indicating that Russell Westbrook never demanded a trade from the Washington Wizards. 

The Wizards traded Westbrook to the Los Angeles Lakers several hours before the draft in July.

“I really have to make sure the record is straight on that,” Sheppard said in an interview with NBC Sports Washington’s Chris Miller. “Russell actually never asked to move on. He just said, ‘If I can get to the Lakers, that’d be something I would love to do. If not, I’ll be back here.’ I said, ‘What about the Clippers?’ He said, ‘Hell no.’ So Russell was happy being here and we were very grateful for him being here.”

Westbrook reportedly reached out to Kawhi Leonard in 2019 about joining him on the Clippers via trade before it eventually became Paul George moving from the Oklahoma City Thunder. 

The Clippers, for their part, were reportedly not interested in Westbrook this offseason.

Kawhi Leonard revealed that part of the reason why he signed a four-year max contract with the Los Angeles Clippers this offseason is because he hopes to return at some point this season. Leonard underwent surgery on July 13th to repair a partially torn right ACL.

"Because I wanted to play," Leonard explained of his decision at the team's media day on Monday. "I mean, the best situation for me was to do it one-and-one and then opt out and sign a long-term five-year deal. But there's a lot of concerns that that brings up for you guys and your job, and it creates storylines that I'm going to leave the team [after one year].

"I wanted to secure some money, and I wanted to be able to come back if I was able to this year. If I would have took the one-and-one, I probably would have not played [this season] just to be cautious and opted out and took a five-year."

Lawrence Frank said last week that "we don't even breach that" when asked if he anticipates Leonard being able to play this season.

"It's just, no one knows when you're dealing with a recovery from an ACL [injury], the time frame," Frank said.

As a free agent, Leonard could have signed a two-year, $82 million deal with a player option in 2022-23 and become a free agent again in 2022, which would have made him eligible to sign a five-year, $235 million max contract with the Clippers.

Leonard said staying with the Clippers was never in doubt and now the question is when he can return.

"Just day-to-day," Leonard said. "Just working with the staff day-to-day, and then when that available date comes, we'll be ready for it, and it'll be out in the public."

The Los Angeles Clippers will sign Amir Coffey to a Two-Way contract. 

Coffey went undrafted in 2019 out of Minnesota. Coffey has played in 62 games with the Clippers over his first two NBA seasons. 

In 22 career G League games, Coffey has averaged 16.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists. 

The Los Angeles Clippers have signed Jordan Ford to a non-guaranteed camp deal.

Ford averaged 5.2 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 14.5 minutes in Summer League with the Clippers.

Ford also spent training camp with the Clippers last season before joining their G League team.

Host Danny Leroux (@DannyLeroux), Ben Golliver of the Washington Post (@BenGolliver) and Matt Moore of The Action Network (@HPBasketball) go in-depth on the NBA’s Pacific Division.

They discuss how the Warriors, Lakers, Clippers, Suns and Kings fared in the off-season, including which teams improved and what moves stood out. The three also predict the season to come, including projected finish, breakout players and rookies they are most excited to see.

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J.J. Redick announced his retirement from basketball on his The Old Man and the Three show. Redick played in the NBA for 15 seasons.

Redick spent the first six-and-a-half years of his career with the Orlando Magic. He was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks during the 2012-13 season. Redick then played the next four years with the LA Clippers, before moving on to the Philadelphia 76ers for two seasons. Redick then signed with the New Orleans Pelicans in 2019. He was traded to the Dallas Mavericks at the 2021 trade deadline.

Over 940 regular season games, Redick averaged 12.8 points per game. Redick was one of the NBA's most-feared shooters, as he shot 41.5% from behind the arc for his career. In the regular season, Redick buried 1,950 three-pointers.

During his career, Redick's teams made the playoffs in 14-of-15 seasons. In 110 postseason games, Redick averaged 10.9 points and shot 37.1% on three-pointers.

The Los Angeles Clippers unveiled plans for the Intuit Dome, their $1.8 billion arena scheduled to open in Inglewood for the 24-25 season.

The Clippers have shared Staples Center since the 99-00 season and previously played at the L.A. Sports Arena near the USC campus.

“When we began the search for a partner for the LA Clippers and our new dome, we looked for one that shares our passion for technology, the pursuit of innovation and our commitment to customers, fans and community,” said Steve Ballmer, LA Clippers Chairman. “Intuit is a perfect fit and we’re excited to be calling our future home the Intuit Dome.”

Introducing the @IntuitDome.
Future home of the LA Clippers.

— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) September 17, 2021

The Los Angeles Clippers were casually linked to a Russell Westbrook trade in the past before he was eventually traded to the Washington Wizards and Los Angeles Lakers in each of the past two offseason. The interest in Westbrook has led some to speculate that they could trade for John Wall, who the Houston Rockets are attempting to move.

"The Clippers were never interested in Russell Westbrook," said Zach Lowe on his podcast. "They were a rumored Russell Westbrook trade in a few places whenever that happened. They were never interested. That was never a real thing. I think they value their optionality too much."

Lowe does not believe the Clippers are at all likely to trade for Wall.

Before Westbrook was traded to the Wizards during the 2020 offseason, Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer linked him to the Clippers.

A new report this offseason indicated that Westbrook reached out to Kawhi Leonard during the 2019 offseason about the possibility of teaming up with the Clippers before they eventually traded for Paul George instead. 

The LA Clippers have agreed to sign free agent center Isaiah Hartenstein. Hartenstein will sign a non-guaranteed, training camp deal with the Clippers.

The 7'0'' center split the 2020-21 season between the Denver Nuggets and Cleveland Cavaliers, after being traded to the Cavs at the trade deadline. In 16 games with Cleveland, Hartenstein played his best basketball in the NBA. He averaged 8.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.2 blocks in 17.9 minutes per game.

In LA, Hartenstein will compete with newly-added Harry Giles for a roster spot backing up Serge Ibaka and Ivica Zubac.

Host Danny Leroux (@DannyLeroux) and Arturo Galletti (@AmericanNumbers) break down the over/under win totals for the Western Conference heading into the 21-22 season.

They discuss the win total, division, conference and title odds as well as any pertinent individual award lines for the Thunder (3:18), Rockets (14:00), Spurs (20:42), Timberwolves (24:19), Kings (29:55), Pelicans (37:16), Grizzlies (46:42), Trail Blazers (51:45), Clippers (59:06), Nuggets (1:05:03), Warriors (1:12:12), Mavericks (1:21:22), Suns (1:31:11), Lakers (1:37:44) and Jazz (1:48:59).

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