Los Angeles Clippers

"Business and basketball are two different things. They say don't take it personal, but everybody does." -- Austin Rivers on Chris Paul.

The Clippers star was at LAX when it kept it 100 about the situation involving his former teammate -- telling TMZ Sports he's happy for the guy, but it's gonna get intense when they face the Houston Rockets next season.

"You saw what happened when the Warriors played the Thunder this year. There was a lot of emotion in there."

"I don't think it'll be quite like that but it'll definitely be a lot of fireworks that game if I had to take a guess."

Doc Rivers says reports he shot down an opportunity to deal away his son, Austin Rivers, for Carmelo Anthony are pure BS ... telling TMZ Sports bluntly, "That's not true."

The Clippers honcho was leaving Madeo in Bev Hills Wednesday night when we asked if Chris Paul's departure meant it was a "sad day" for the team.

"I don't know if it's sad or not," Rivers said ... "We'll find that out."

He praised Paul as a "great Clipper" and added, "I wish Chris well."

Jerry West says his new role with the L.A. Clippers DOES NOT require him to get involved in the efforts to resign Blake Griffin and Chris Paul ... telling TMZ Sports, "It's not my responsibility."

West was playing coy when we saw him leaving Caffe Roma in Bev Hills on Tuesday -- saying it's up to other key members of the organization to bring in the players ... "I'm just an adviser."

He added, "Hopefully, everyone will make the right decision."

Meanwhile, we also spotted Clippers' assistant coach Mike Woodson out -- he was WAY stronger on the issue ... telling us locking up the two free agents is definitely a priority.

Stay tuned ...

Glen "Big Baby" Davis says your Blake Griffin jersey is about to become a collector's item ... telling TMZ Sports the Lob City era is OVER ... and he knows exactly where Blake should go next.

We got the former Clipper (and Hollywood turn-up king) leaving Nightingale Plaza in L.A. and picked his brain about the future of his former squad.

If you hadn't heard, both Chris Paul and BG opted out of their contracts -- strong signs each man is looking outside of L.A. for the next gig.

Hold your breath, Clippers nation ... your franchise center, DeAndre Jordan, is going full Tony Hawk ... hitting the streets of L.A. on a skateboard and, although it's terrifying, he ain't half bad.

Jordan is 6'11" and 265 pounds but that didn't stop him from straight thrashing on video recently, getting a little help from some bystanders.

Here's the thing ... fun is great and all, but could you imagine the fallout if DJ fell? The Clippers need all the help they can get to lose to the Warriors next year.

Jerry West insists he knows NOTHING about the Clippers reportedly trying to steal him away from the Golden State Warriors ... but watch the video -- and pay attention to that smirk!

West is currently an executive board member for the Warriors -- but ESPN's Marc Stein reported the Clippers are actively courting him to L.A.

So, when we saw West in Beverly Hills on Wednesday, we had to ask him straight-up -- what's the deal?!

Doc Rivers has a message for Clipper fans freaking out about their point guard heading to San Antonio ... telling TMZ Sports if he has his way (which he does), Chris Paul ain't going ANYWHERE.

Multiple outlets have reported there's mutual interest between the Spurs and Paul, with San Antonio wanting a new point guard (sorry, Tony Parker) and CP3 wanting to play for a contender (sorry, Clippers).

So when we got Rivers out at Madeo we had to ask about Paul's future with the team, being that Doc is the Clippers prez, and the only guy who can make the trade happen.

And according to Doc ... it ain't happening ... 'cause he told our guy Paul is 'absolutely' staying with the Clippers, and he seemed pretty concrete on it.

If you're wondering how DeAndre Jordan feels about the Clippers trading Blake Griffin this off-season, TMZ Sports is gonna give you a pretty good indication that he's not into it.

We got DJ out in Malibu and peppered him with some questions about his off-season -- and he was game. Then we asked about his ex-teammate, Jared Dudley saying Lob City needs to move BG ...

And Jordan was NOT game.

Austin Rivers feels VERY strongly that the L.A. Clippers should do everything in their power to keep the core players for another season ... telling TMZ Sports they're just "a piece away" from being champs.

The rumors are swirling that Doc Rivers will break the team up -- possibly trading Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan or Chris Paul -- in the hopes of bringing in a fresh lookin' squad.

But Austin says it would be "idiotic" to break up the band -- "We still feel like we can be an NBA championship team."

If the Clippers wanna win next year, they GOTTA trade Blake Griffin ... so says current NBA player (and former Clippers teammate) Jared Dudley.

Dudley isn't just a sharpshooter for the Phoenix Suns, he's a league expert -- so when we got him leaving Warwick in L.A. we asked what Lob City needs to do to avoid getting punked in the playoffs.

His answer? Trade Blake Griffin ... and Dudley explains why it's the perfect move.

By the way, Dudley played with Griffin in '13-'14 -- meaning he probably won't be invited to the team reunion dinner now ... which would never really happen because they didn't win anything.

With the Golden State Warriors still waiting to find out who they'll face in the next round of the playoffs, Matt Barnes jetted to L.A. to blow off some steam with his old Clippers pal, DeAndre Jordan.

The two hit up Warwick in Hollywood with a TON of huge stars including Julio Jones, French Montana, Nicole Scherzinger, Zach Randolph and more.

The Warriors will either play the Rockets or the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals -- depending who wins that series.

So, why not use the downtime to chill with old pals?

Over in Cleveland, the Cavs are in a similar situation -- waiting on the winner of the Wizards and Celtics series. They decided to throw a dance party during workouts yesterday.

The Clippers don't seem to be taking another early playoff exit TOO hard ... partying in L.A. the same night they were bounced from O'Brien tourney by the Utah Jazz.

Chris Paul, Paul Pierce and Alan Anderson tore up the town Sunday night, hitting up Tao for dinner, then spinning over to Nightingale Plaza for Greystone Sundays hosted by MADE nightlife.

The Lob city boys weren't the only gone fishin' hoopers out last night, Russell Westbrook was also at Nightingale soaking up his feelings.

As for the Clippers, the entire future of the team is kinda screwed, so we'd imagine the night out was more about sending off Paul Pierce in style than the party itself.

Justin Bieber's dance moves are about to go viral -- dude was GIGGIN' hard to Kendrick Lamar's new single at an NBA playoff game ... awkwardness be damned.

The Biebs had box seats for Game 5 of the Clippers/Jazz series in L.A. Tuesday night, and was inspired to get up and dance when he heard Kendrick's song, "HUMBLE."

Some ticket holders got an up close and personal show of JB doing his thing ... especially the guy next to him. Too close, maybe.

Kendrick was in the house, and had the honor of sitting courtside. Key word ... sitting. No one knows his music better than K-Dot.

Something crazy went down at the Clippers game ... Kendrick Lamar forged a real, powerful friendship with the LAPD commissioner.

K-Dot's lyrics haven't exactly been pro-cop over the years -- he rapped about hating the po-po on "Alright" and once performed the song on top of a burned up police car.

Which is why it was shocking when he posed for a pic Tuesday night at the Clippers game with LAPD commish Steve Soboroff ... one of the top cops in L.A.

We spoke with Soboroff who says it wasn't a cheap PR stunt -- the guys are REALLY friends and have a mutual respect and understanding for each other.

"Do I support anti-police sentiment and speech?" Soboroff said ... "No, of course not. He expresses through his art form his feelings, and I respect that. And I think he respects – or I hope he would respect – how seriously we take community policing and understanding people’s views."

Soboroff says the two are on such good terms, Kendrick helped him buy tickets to the rapper's upcoming concert at Staples Center for his son (Steve's more of a Sinatra guy).

Bottom line ... "I consider him a friend, and I think he considers me a friend."

There's only one way to celebrate a monster playoff performance like DeAndre Jordan had Tuesday night -- HIT THE NIGHTCLUB!!

Jordan headed straight to Avenue Nightclub in Hollywood after dominating the Jazz with 18 points and 15 rebounds and helping the Clippers tie the series at 1-1 ... hanging out until after 1 AM.

But don't trip ... Lob City has a couple days off until their next game, so he should be good to go come Friday.

DeAndre Jordan wants his quarterback, Tony Romo, in Los Angeles ... to play for the Clippers ... telling TMZ Sports he wishes Tony was suiting up for his squad, and not the Mavericks.

Why is anyone talking about Romo playing basketball? 'Cause Tony is actually suiting up for the Mavericks in the team's home finale -- FOR REAL -- as a special send-off from owner Mark Cuban.

Jordan is a HUGE Cowboys fan, so when we got him out in L.A. we had to ask about Romo's hoops debut, and Jordan made it clear ... he wishes it were with the Clippers.

Cool sentiment, but we're not sure if Lob City needs another guy who can't win the big one.