Jerry West has passed away at the age of 86.

West played for the Los Angeles Lakers from 1960 until 1974 where he was a 10-time All-NBA First Team selection and two-time All-NBA Second Team pick. West was selected to the NBA's 35th, 50th and 75th anniversary teams.

As an executive, West won eight championships with six coming as the lead decision maker with the Lakers, and two additional titles as a consultant with the Golden State Warriors.

In recent years, West was a consultant for the Los Angeles Clippers. 

The Los Angeles Clippers are "determined" to retain Paul George and James Harden in free agency, reports ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

George will potentially be the top available free agent this offseason and is expected to receive interest from the likes of the Philadelphia 76ers and Orlando Magic.

Harden was acquired by the Clippers last October and will have a more limited market from rival teams.

The Clippers previously signed Kawhi Leonard to a three-year, $152.4 million extension.

Ty Lue and the Los Angeles Clippers have agreed to a contract extension that will make him one of the NBA's highest-paid coaches at nearly $70 million over five years.

Lawrence Frank negotiated the contract with Andy Miller of Kluth Sports to retain Lue as the Clippers move to their new arena next season.

Lue was elevated to head coach of the Clippers in 2020 and guided the team to the Western Conference Finals in the following season.

Lue had one season remaining on his contract and was a target of teams such as the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns.

The Los Angeles Clippers are interested in Chris Paul and Kyle Lowry, according to Marc Stein of The Stein Line.

The Warriors currently have until June 28 to guarantee Paul's $30 million contract for next season.

Paul and the Warriors have discussed moving back the deadline with the possibility of using his salary in a trade.

Russell Westbrook also has until June 29 to decide his $4 million player option with the Clippers for next year.

The Los Angeles Clippers remain hopeful they can will be able to retain Paul George this offseason, sources tell Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports.

After Kawhi Leonard signed a three-year, $153 million extension with the Clippers, there was an expectation that George would sign next. But because Leonard signed at a discount below the four-year, $223 million deal he could have signed, it complicated the situation with George.

Rival teams and agents are under the impression that the Clippers are reluctant to commit to guaranteed money beyond 26-27 when Leonard's three-year deal expires.

George could also try to negotiate a no-trade clause if he becomes a free agent, which most NBA teams are reluctant to offer.

If George takes meetings with other teams, the Philadelphia 76ers, Orlando Magic, New York Knicks and Miami Heat could be involved. 

Tyronn Lue is set to enter the final season of his current contract with the Los Angeles Clippers in 24-25 if an extension isn't reached this offseason. Both the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns had interest in Lue, but it was made clear that the Clippers wouldn't entertain letting him out of his contract.

The Clippers would like to extend Lue, but those conversations reportedly haven't progressed.

"They want to extend him," said Shams Charania. "To my knowledge, right there hasn't been any progress in those conversations."

Over the past year, the NBA has seen a large increase in contract values for head coaches from Monty Williams and Gregg Popvoich to Erik Spoelstra and Steve Kerr with top coaches making more than $10 million per season.

LA Clippers front office executive Lawrence Frank covered a lot during his end-of-season media session. One of the topics was center Ivica Zubac, who had a career year. Frank said that the Clippers will have extension conversations with Zubac this summer.

The 7-foot center averaged a career-high 11.7 points per game last season. Zubac also grabbed 9.2 rebounds and blocked 1.2 shots per game.

Zubac has one year remaining on the three-year, $32.8 million extension he signed with LA in 2022. Zubac will make $11.7 million in 2024-25.

Tyronn Lue has one season remaining on his contract with the Los Angeles Clippers and the two sides have not held extension talks. Over the past few months, contract values or elite NBA head coaches has gone up dramatically with Steve Kerr, Gregg Popovich and Erik Spoelsta among the extensions.

"They have not discussed an extension with him the entire season," said Shams Charania. "Now, they're focus will be can we get an extension done with Ty Lue?"

The Los Angeles Lakers have been linked with interest in Lue. Lue and the Lakers were unable to agree to terms on a contract back in 2019.

The Los Angeles Clippers would like to retain both Paul George and James Harden this offseason, but so far they have tried to do at a discount. The Clippers signed Kawhi Leonard to a discounted extension worth $152.4 million over three years.

"This Clippers team fully intends to keep this group together, they want to bring back Paul George as a free agent or give him an extension, but they have not been able to reach an agreement with Paul George," said Shams Charania.

"They've made multiple contract offers below the max. They have not been able to reach a deal. They're going to keep trying."

If George tests free agency, there is a general expectation that he will be offered a max contract by the Philadelphia 76ers and Orlando Magic.

The Los Angeles Clippers were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs on Friday and enter an uncertain offseason with Paul George and James Harden becoming free agents. While Kawhi Leonard has already signed an extension with the Clippers, he was unavailable or the majority of the series, leaving the team in a diminished state.

George was asked whether he sees himself with the Clippers long-term alongside Leonard and Harden.

"Yeah," George said. "If it works that way, absolutely."

George is expected to be the most coveted free agent on the open market.

"I'm not even focused on that yet," George said. "I got a lot to kind of digest myself, so I haven't even got to that yet. Look forward to kind of going back, just letting everything kind of decompress, talk to my family, be around family support and then address the next step. ... Yeah, it's just not where I'm there. I'm not there yet."