From the start of speculation earlier this month that Russell Westbrook might join the Clippers, the potential fit was not obvious.
Yet Westbrook is joining the Clippers anyway, with the guard set to sign after securing a buyout from Utah, where the Lakers traded him, and clearing waivers, according to a person with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly on the matter — a move that is years in the making as the Clippers try, yet again, to fill what they view as a lead-ballhandler void by signing a past star who will arrive with questions about his effectiveness to recapture his past form.
One day after the NBA's trade deadline closed Feb. 9, Lawrence Frank, the Clippers' president of basketball operations, laid out criteria for effective guard play, one that included enough of a shooting threat to space out opposing defenses, a decided Westbrook shortcoming.
