LOS ANGELES- The LA Clippers shocked the NBA world when they became the first team this offseason to complete a trade, sending guard Austin Rivers to the Washington Wizards in exchange for center Marcin Gortat. Of all the trades that had been discussed in the days prior, this one came out of left field with the Clippers trading away one of their most improved players from last season.

Rivers now heads to Washington to join a team that has been mediocre at best in the Western Conference over the last few years. The Wizards have been good enough to make the NBA playoffs, but haven't been good enough to compete with the Eastern Conference's best like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, and Toronto Raptors.

The trade, although stunning, is one that Rivers is looking forward to after taking time to think about the move.

“It's taken a little time [to process],” Rivers told ClutchPoints via text. “It's just a big change, but a great one for me honestly.

“I'm very pleased.”

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First off, don't take this and blow it out of proportion as if to say he's happy to get out of Los Angeles. Rivers had no issue remaining in LA and continuing to build with the Clippers core in the final year of his three-year deal, but ultimately, the shadow of playing under head coach and father Doc Rivers is something he couldn't easily escape despite having a career-year averaging 15.1 points, 2.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.2 steals and 2.2 three-pointers per game on 37.8 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

While Rivers had just one more season left on his deal, it's unlikely that the team would re-sign him next summer, when some of the big contracts signed in the summer of 2016 are expected to come off the books and the free agency class gets interestingly good. Rivers will look to capitalize on his career year in 2017-18 by proving himself in Washington, and hopefully securing a long-term deal next summer.

“It's a great opportunity for me,” said Rivers.

The former Duke guard is down in Miami right now, working on both his on-court game as well as his conditioning. Weighing in at about 205 lbs, Rivers is looking to bulk up and move up to about 212 lbs working with trainer David Alexander, the renowned South Beach trainer whose transformed the bodies of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Victor Oladipo, Julius Randle, and other athletes across multiple sports.