The Mercury News

Former Laker Westbrook clears waivers, signs up with Clippers

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Russell Westbrook signed with the Los Angeles Clippers after he cleared waivers on Wednesday afternoon.

The nine-time All-Star was waived by the Utah Jazz on Monday. He cleared waivers because no team has the salary cap space to take on the remaining $47 million he was owed on his expiring contract.

There is an outside chance Westbrook could practice Thursday if he passes his physical. The Clippers — fourth in the Western Conference with a 33-28 record — host Sacramento on Friday in their first game after the All-Star break.

The move keeps Westbrook in Los Angeles. He is from the area, was a standout at UCLA and played less than two seasons for the Lakers before being traded to the Jazz on Feb. 10 as part of a three-team deal.

The 15-year veteran is averaging 15.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 7.1 assists in 28.7 minutes per game. HAWKS GM SAYS SNYDER A CANDIDATE TO REPLACE MCMILLAN >> Atlanta Hawks general manager Landry Fields said Wednesday former Utah coach Quin Snyder is among those being considered to replace Nate McMillan.

The Hawks (29-30) fired McMillan on Tuesday. Fields stressed that Atlanta's eighth-place standing in the Eastern Conference is not acceptable for a team that advanced to the conference finals in 2021.

Snyder, 56, was 372-264 as Utah's coach from 201422. He guided the Jazz to six consecutiv­e playoff appearance­s before stepping down after last season.

Fields said Snyder's availabili­ty “is a factor in the sense that I feel comfortabl­e mentioning his name, but there are other candidates I don't want to mention because they are a part of other teams.”

LOVE SAYS PICKING HEAT WAS EASY DECISION >> Kevin Love got to know Bam Adebayo through time together with USA Basketball. He already is fond of Adebayo's mother, Marilyn Blount. And Love and Adebayo already have exchanged some items, such as jerseys after a game and profane but hilarious comments on Instagram.

Seems like a perfect match.

That's what the Miami Heat are hoping for, anyway. Love — one of two big men Miami signed during the All-Star break, along with free agent center Cody Zeller — detailed his rationale for picking the Heat over Philadelph­ia and his excitement to play along Adebayo on Wednesday, a day before his first official practice with his new team.

“I love the way that they operate here,” said Love, who has been working out in Miami since he signed on Monday. “You can tell that it's a top-tier, high-class, high-character organizati­on and that all starts at the top. So for me, at the end of the day, it was a pretty easy decision.”

VAUGHN EAGER TO KEEP BUILDING NETS >> Jacque Vaughn was passed over the last time the Brooklyn Nets hired a coach. It appeared they had someone else in mind when the job came open again this season.

Vaughn just focused on his work, not worrying about whether he would ever have a real chance to lead the organizati­on.

“I just kept doing my job,” Vaughn said.

Now he has the chance to keep doing it well into the future.

The Nets gave Vaughn a multiyear contact extension Tuesday, rewarding him for keeping the team in playoff position heading into the final stretch of a season that's included the trades of AllStars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

Brooklyn is 34-24, fifth in the Eastern Conference with 24 games to go. But there's plenty of work to stay in the top six for a guaranteed postseason spot, with the Nets still integratin­g the four new starters they acquired in the trades with Dallas and Phoenix, and the season-long challenge of getting the most out of Ben Simmons.

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