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When the Phoenix Suns eliminated the LA Clippers at the end of April, Russell Westbrook was asked about his thoughts on the organization he was a part of for all of 10 weeks. Westbrook is a Los Angeles native, a product of Leuzinger High in Lawndale, Calif., a UCLA alum and a 15-year NBA veteran. He was thrilled to be a Lakers point guard until they faded him and the Clippers picked him back up.

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What did Westbrook take away from his experience with the Clippers after starting 26 games for them, including the playoffs?

“A well, well-ran organization, from top to bottom,” Westbrook said of the Clippers after a Game 5 elimination in the Western Conference first round. “Been in the league a long time. You understand the value of the small things, the staff, the people that they have here to take care of the players day in and day out. It’s something that I really noticed since day one. Not just that, but a happy and enjoyable environment is something that you don’t see everywhere. Happy to come to work, being around people that actually enjoy their job, enjoy what they’re doing. That’s trying to keep all of us as players, not just that, but making sure we have everything we need to be successful on the floor.”

Westbrook already had the support of head coach Tyronn Lue and fellow Southern California-bred stars Kawhi Leonard and (especially) Paul George before he joined the Clippers. As his Clippers stint went on, Westbrook established a strong rapport with his fellow role players as well as chairman Steve Ballmer. And it was clear Westbrook left a positive impression on president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank and the front office as well.

This offseason is the first in Westbrook’s career during which he was an unrestricted free agent. He played well enough in the postseason to clearly prove he wasn’t washed. Ballmer and the front office contacted Westbrook, vacationing in France, as soon as free agency started. Westbrook monitored the volatile point guard market. Ultimately, he took the deal the Clippers had to offer: two years for $8 million and a player option in 2024, which lines Westbrook up with George and Leonard in the final year of the championship window before Intuit Dome opens.

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It’s a similar contract the Clippers signed Nicolas Batum to in 2021, in terms of a one-plus-one that would allow the player to opt out after a year and re-sign using early Bird rights. That’s what Batum did last summer, opting out of his $3.3 million contract to sign a two-year, $22 million deal.

But for Westbrook, it’s more than just getting the deal. It’s an opportunity to stay home in Los Angeles for a third NBA season, with a chance to help the Clippers achieve a goal that was set in 2019 when Leonard and George arrived.

“We only have one goal, and that will be winning a championship,” Westbrook said in his de facto exit interview. “I think we have all the intangibles to be able to do so. Offensively and defensively. We can guard anybody when we’re all healthy and have a team full of healthy guys. I think we all understand that. I hope ‘Whi and P understand that as well.”

Lue and George maintained that Westbrook gave the Clippers factors they did not have. Namely, they believed Westbrook would provide easy buckets for the Clippers. Overall, they knew what they were talking about:

• Per 48 minutes, the Clippers averaged 52.8 points in the paint in Westbrook’s 635 minutes on the floor. On the season, the Clippers ranked 27th in the NBA with 45.5 points in the paint per game.

• Per 48 minutes, the Clippers averaged 16.4 fast-break points in Westbrook’s minutes on the floor. Overall, the Clippers ranked 21st in the NBA with 12.9 fast-break points per game.

• The Clippers made 50.9 percent of field goals with Westbrook on the floor, which would have topped the NBA champion Denver Nuggets (50.4 percent) for the best mark in the NBA for a team. Overall, the Clippers ranked 13th in the NBA in field goal percentage (47.7 percent).

The trio of Westbrook, George and Leonard got off to an abysmal start, losing their first four games together as part of a five-game Clippers losing streak out of the All-Star break. That three-man lineup scored only 101.8 points per 100 possessions.

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But then the Clippers won five straight games with Westbrook, George and Leonard together, a streak snapped in a one-point loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder that saw George suffer what was ultimately a season-ending right knee injury. In the last six games together, the Westbrook/George/Leonard trio scored 117.6 points per 100 possessions while holding foes to 97.5 points per 100 possessions. They were starting to figure it out on the fly.

“I feel like I can really help them out, make the game easy for them,” Westbrook said of potentially playing with George and Leonard again. “I think once I got here, I don’t know how many games we played all together, but it started off slow — took some time. Just helping them make the game easy for them. I know I can make the game — get a whole season, whole camp, whole summer to re-evaluate what we want to do as a team. Hopefully we can make that happen.”

Now, Westbrook must show his efficiency with the Clippers can hold up in his 16th NBA season, a career that has been a model of consistency mixed in with inefficiency. Westbrook’s 48.9 percent mark from the field and 35.6 percent mark from 3 were much higher than his career marks of 43.8 percent overall and 30.5 percent on 3s. Westbrook remained a subpar free-throw shooter with the Clippers (65.8 percent), but his 3.4 turnovers per game were part of a 10-year low over the course of a full season. Westbrook’s free-throw attempts per game dipped to 3.6 per game in L.A. after never averaging fewer than 5.0 free-throw attempts per game in his career prior to last season. While Westbrook had a powerful playoff run without George and with Leonard missing the final three games, he made only 41 percent of his field goals and is only 40.8 percent from the field in his postseason career.

Westbrook also showed he is capable of defending at a high level, showing a nose for the ball and helping the Clippers by using his motor and athleticism. Frankly, the Clippers needed more of some of those attributes, namely offensive rebounding and movement skills. It was quite a self-tell when Frank noted once Westbrook was signed that he felt like the 34-year-old Westbrook was arguably the team’s most athletic player despite also being the oldest.

Enter Kenyon Martin Jr. The Clippers agreed to trade second-round picks in 2026 (origin to be determined) and 2027 (Memphis) to the Houston Rockets for Martin, the 52nd pick of the 2020 NBA Draft. Like Westbrook, Martin is a former Rocket and a Southern California product — the son of former Clipper Kenyon Martin and a high-school performer at Chaminade in West Hills, Calif., and Sierra Canyon in Chatsworth, Calif. Like Westbrook, Martin has real explosiveness, marked by a 38.5-inch vertical leap.

Martin was the starting small forward in Houston, namely after the trade of Eric Gordon to the Clippers at February’s trade deadline. Martin averaged career highs across the board last season, with 173 of his 410 field goals being dunks. For context, Ivica Zubac led the Clippers with 130 dunks last season, and no other Clipper had more than 47.

Ballmer never saw Blake Griffin dunk more than 84 times in a season after becoming the team’s chairman in 2014, so prepare for excitement. And Martin is a no frills player overall: you’re not going to see him on the ball much, he’s never taking midrange shots, he made 56.9 percent of his shots overall, and he averaged 1.5 offensive rebounds per game. That field goal percentage and offensive rebound average would have led all non-center Clippers, and Martin scored 12.9 points per game last season, which would have been more than every Clipper except for Leonard, George, Westbrook and Norman Powell.

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The weaknesses in Martin’s game offensively are obvious. He’s not much of a threat to score beyond the paint, and his 3-point percentage dropped to 31.5 percent last season. He is a career 68 percent shooter from the free-throw line. Martin doesn’t turn the ball over much, but he’s not a player you will ask to make plays (1.5 assists per game last season). He’s made 0.8 3s per game in each of his three seasons, so he’s not a floor spacer. You’re not bringing Martin off screens or handoffs, and he hardly ever isolates or handles the ball in pick-and-rolls. He’s running, cutting, crashing and rolling — which is fine next to Westbrook in small lineups that have a shooter at the five.

Martin’s areas of defensive improvement are more subtle but also in need of attention if he will contribute to winning for the first time in his career. Though Martin is a solid rebounder (5.5 per game last season), he is not a defensive playmaker, averaging only 0.5 steals and 0.4 blocks last season despite his athleticism. Martin has short arms, measuring at 6-foot-6 with a 6-7 wingspan during the 2020 draft combine. The Rockets, a terrible defensive team, have always been better on that end of the floor with Martin on the bench. Martin is a solid on-ball defender one-on-one, but he needs work in almost every other situation, especially pick-and-rolls. He needs to be coached up significantly, even after three NBA seasons.

The Clippers believe Martin could fill in at either forward position, but his addition is notable because of the pre-existing logjam at the power forward spot. Not including rookie first-round pick Kobe Brown, there are a lot of bodies:

The bare bones current Clippers depth chart

Does not include rookies, two-way contracts, or unsigned rights. pic.twitter.com/LTe4OPbzm5

— Law Murray 🤫 (@LawMurrayTheNU) July 2, 2023

One obvious solution? Consolidation, something that would likely be a staple of any James Harden deal. Both Westbrook and Martin have been teammates in Houston with Harden, another Southern California native. Westbrook still has a good relationship with Harden; how it would work on the court would be up to Lue. And the Clippers are still in contact with free-agent center Mason Plumlee after an active first two days that saw half the league make moves in the first or second string of the position. Zubac is not under serious consideration for a trade due to his affordable contract, rare durability and reliable rim protection, the latter of which would not be the case with Plumlee if he were the starting or only reliable option in the middle.

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But moves involving Harden or any other future Hall-of-Fame guards are not imminent. Simply put, there’s not much the Clippers can do to rush the timetable. They took care of what they needed to, and that’s retain the point guard they grew familiar with in Westbrook while obtaining necessary athleticism in Martin. For Westbrook in particular, the energy he will bring is that of a player motivated to be loud and instructive for a team that too often quietly goes through the motions. Frank discussed the need to be better with urgency and competitiveness. Westbrook will do that, at least off the floor. And, on the floor, Westbrook should still have that chip on his shoulder.

“I’m just grateful of the people that support me,” Westbrook said in April. “I also want to thank the people that didn’t support me. Because, without them, it wouldn’t drive me to be some of the things I was able to do as well. So, I’m grateful for everyone. I’m just thankful to be able to finish the year healthy and grateful, and looking forward to next year.”

(Photo of Russell Westbrook: Andrew D. Bernstein / Getty Images).

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