LOS ANGELES, CA – For about six hours, Amir Coffey was mentally preparing to join the Washington Wizards in what would be a new opportunity for the swingman. And then in one fell swoop, he was forced to reverse course and focus on his new, but old role with the LA Clippers.

That's what happened when Coffey — as part of a larger trade involving Marcus Morris and the pick that turned into Kobe Brown — was reportedly traded to Washington in a three-team deal with the Wizards and Boston Celtics. Malcolm Brogdon was set to join the Clippers while Kristaps Porzingis would head to Boston.

Instead, a deal that was reportedly in its final stages at 1:50PM PST had fallen through by 7:20PM PST, creating an awkward situation for all the players involved who had to go back to the teams who had just agreed to trade them.

“It was… No, it wasn't weird,” Amir Coffey told ClutchPoints in an exclusive interview. “You know, when it happens, you got that first day or two to think like, ‘Man, I was almost out of here.' But after that, it's like, ‘All right, let's get back to work.'”

When emotions are high, it's hard not to immediately view a deal as a situation where one team no longer required the player they were sending out. But Coffey never looked at the trade as a situation where the Clippers didn't want him.

“No, I kind of don't look at it like that,” Coffey said.” I think I really just look at it as an opportunity. If a team's looking to trade for you. Maybe they got some plans for you over there. Or maybe not. But I kind of try to look at the brighter side of things. I didn't look at it like the Clippers didn't want me. I kind of looked at it on the other side, like, it's an opportunity to go somewhere else, get a fresh start, and start new.

“But yeah, it's part of the business. At some point — well, at every point — you've got to be ready for that. But I didn't think it was weird. I just kind of got over that initial reaction, like, ‘Oh man, I was almost gone.' And then came back and locked it back in.”

Locked in might be the only way to describe Amir Coffey right now.

After going undrafted in 2019 out of Minnesota, Coffey joined the Clippers' Summer League roster with the hopes of securing a contract and a spot on an NBA team. Five years later, he's now up there with Ivica Zubac and Terance Mann as the longest-tenured Clippers players on the roster.

“That's crazy. That's crazy to think about. That's just something me and T-Mann was just talking about the other day. That's cool. Me and T-Mann, I think PG and Kawhi has been here. Zu’s been here. We've seen a lot of different faces come and go. So that's pretty cool.”

Coffey has been one of the few players to legitimately play at every level as an NBA professional, and he's done it all for one team. He was brought onto the Clippers' Summer League team, worked his way to a training camp deal, and an eventual two-way contract. He played big minutes and developed in the G League while constantly being called up for the Clippers, who dealt with innumerable injuries over the years.

“It's definitely a journey,” Coffey laughed as he quickly relayed moments from his career to our conversation. “I came into the Summer League undrafted, fighting for a spot on the team, ended up signing the two-way there. I was on the two-way for three years, my first three years. And then after that, I signed a standard contract. So just over the years, just kind of watching the journey, it's always cool to look back on, just to see how far I came and how far I want to go, but also just understanding how much it took and the grind it took.”

The injuries handed to the Clippers, while unfortunate, provided significant opportunities for playing time, which Coffey took by the reigns and never relinquished. There were two stretches of play leading up to this season that really displayed his growth and readiness for the NBA level:

The first was in January 2022, where Coffey finished the 17-game month as the team's leading scorer at 14 points per game on 50 percent shooting while playing 31 minutes per game.

The second came in a five-game span later that season in April of 2022, when Amir scored a career-high 32 points in a 34-point road win over the Milwaukee Bucks and followed that up with a new career-high 35 points in a 50-point home win over the Oklahoma City Thunder to end the Clippers regular season.

That earned Coffey a three-year, $11 million deal in the summer of 2022, with the Clippers choosing to continue investing in a guy who'd grown within their player development program. Even after all that, however, there were a lot of DNP's next to Amir Coffey's name on the final boxscore the following year.

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Coffey made 50 appearances in the 2022-23 season, averaging just 12 minutes a night. He was still among the first players in the gym, getting extra shots up and participating in the stay-ready games hours before practice started.

“It kind of just depends on where you're at mentally,” Coffey explained. “Some days it could be easy, some days it's tough, but it's something that you need to do, whether you're playing or whether you're not. Just putting the extra work in. No matter what situation you're in, if you're playing, great. If you're not playing, that's even more of a reason to get there early, stay late, get extra shots up. All those unseen hours, I feel like those are what matters the most. Everybody sees the bright lights during game time, but what they don't see is you shooting for extra hours, getting there early, staying late, and stuff like that.”

Players at the NBA level are madly competitive to a level that a lot of folks don't comprehend. You often hear stories of them using anything they can latch onto as a driving force or as ‘bulletin board material.' For Amir Coffey, that hunger came from not playing.

“It sounds crazy, but the more challenging days kind of made it easier. Like, ‘Okay, this is even more of a reason why I should be in the gym working,' you know what I'm saying? Like, it's easy to work when everything is going right. But those challenging days, I feel like they're in the back of your mind, it's like, ‘I'm in a position that's not where I want to be right now, so it's even more of a reason to work.'”

The Clippers' trade for James Harden sent four of their frontcourt players out and made them quite top-heavy. As the team struggled to fit the right pieces together and find the best glue guys, the trade also opened up a significant role for Coffey, who had been waiting his whole life for this.

“You got to give Amir a lot of credit — I know Tyronn Lue and his teammates do — for hanging in there when he wasn’t getting any playing time,” President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank said. “I think his approach changed this year in terms of the urgency, how he attacked different things, the ‘stay ready’ games, his individual work, and [assistant coach] Jeremy Castleberry and that group has done a great job of keeping him ready.”

After some lineup experiments and adjustments, Coffey entered the rotation against the Golden State Warriors on December 14th and has not left it since. He's seventh on the team in minutes since he joined the rotation behind the starting five and Norman Powell, averaging 21.7 minutes per game. And it's his efficiency is through the roof.

Amir Coffey is shooting 57 percent from the field and 41.8 percent from three since permanently entering the Clippers rotation. He's shooting 78.1 percent inside of 8 feet, 63.5 percent from 8-16 feet, 100 percent from 16-24 feet, and 42.6% from 24+ feet.

With a league-average effective field goal percentage of 54.7 percent — which accounts for the fact that three-pointers are worth three points while all other field goals are worth two — Amir Coffey is currently boasting an eFG% of 69.8 percent, 15 percent above the league average.

As cliche as it sounds, the James Harden trade put the Clippers in desperate need of the glue guy, someone who will defend the opposing team's best player at times, who will limit mistakes on the court, who has a knack for coming up with loose balls, who will go get the extra rebound or hit the extra shot in the corner with a dwindling shot clock.

That's exactly who Amir Coffey has been.

“[My job is] kind of just being one of those glue guys. Playing defense, first of all, is huge. I know that's something I can do at a high clip. I play defense well, I guard the best players, can take some of the load off of these guys, which is huge. And just doing things like that, playing defense, running lanes, hitting open shots, playing hard every time I get an opportunity. Just doing that every day, day in and day out. That's something we've been looking for, so just stepping into that. Doing whatever I can, whatever I'm asked to. It's gone a long way with the coaches.”

Given how well he's played and the versatility he provides on both ends, it's hard to see Coffey ever coming out of the Clippers rotation again as long as he's here. This is where those years of extra practice reps and stay-ready games with zero promise of seeing the court really show their impact.

“I think [it's due to] hard work, I think his dedication to the game,” Tyronn Lue said of Coffey after a recent win. “Being on a two-way, playing the G League, working his way up. I think two years ago when he started and played a big role in that team that went 42-40 and just being starter, being aggressive, running, pick-and-roll, scoring the basketball, defending. I've always had confidence in him, but when you're playing behind PG, Kawhi, Russ and Hall-of-Fame players, it's tough to get on the floor at times. But I've always had confidence in him. He's put in the work every single day with Jeremy [Castleberry].

“It's hard to work out for two straight years and not get consistent minutes. I'm happy for Amir for all the hard work he's done and all the hard work he continues to do. He's playing well and it's a lot of trust with our players, with him as well.”

When asked about how the Clippers have empowered Coffey in this recent spike in production, Paul George couldn't even take credit for it.

“I think Amir has done it by himself,” George said. “We can't take credit for how well Amir has been playing. Amir has worked his ass off and has found his rhythm, found his game, and it complements all of us. I think it's a lot to say about him and his readiness than us.”

Now that he's playing, there's no level of satisfaction or a sigh of relief that comes with it. The Folgers Soldier wants more.

“Still to this day, I feel like I got a lot left in me. So it's only going to get more challenging, but it's definitely something that's worth it.”