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2025 Clippers Exit Interviews: Amir Coffey
Our exit interview series for the 2025 Clippers continues with long-time bench guard Amir Coffey.
Basic Information
Height: 6’7
Weight: 210 pounds
Position: Shooting Guard/Small Forward
Age: 27 (28 next month)
Years in NBA: 6
Key Regular Season Stats: 9.7 points, 1.1 assists, 2.2 rebounds, 0.6 steals, and 0.6 turnovers in 24.3 minutes per game across 72 games played (13 starts) on 47.1/40.9/89.1 (3.4 3PA and 1.8 FTA) shooting splits (61.4 True Shooting)
Postseason Stats: Did not appear in the playoffs
Expectations
After a year of serving primarily as a utility bench piece
for the Clippers, the expectation for Amir Coffey entering 2025 was that he
would function in a largely similar role off the bench. There was at least a
chance that Amir could win a starting guard/wing job with Paul George gone, but
he was always a long shot in those conversations. Instead, fans expected that
he would once again come off the bench, play somewhere in the 16-24 minute per
game range on average, and contribute solid if unspectacular play for a deep
but unspectacular team.
Reality
Maybe more than any other Clipper, Amir squarely met expectations. He was in the Clippers’ rotation for the vast majority of the season as anywhere from the 6th to 10th man depending on time and availability, provided solid scoring and shooting off the bench with mostly competent defense, and didn’t do a ton else on the court. In fact, Amir’s numbers were almost entirely in line with 2024’s, with the only real change being more shot attempts and thus more scoring with slightly better percentages from three and the free throw line. Amir’s shooting was valued highly by Ty Lue, who even closed with Amir on a number of occasions instead of bigger name teammates.
However, the arrival of Bogdan Bogdanovic at the deadline spelled the end of Amir’s time as a key rotation player on a health Clippers squad. He still played most of the rest of the season, but his minutes began to trickle down, and eventually Lue went away from him entirely. A late season injury did not help, but it was apparent that Amir was the 10th man on the post-deadline Clippers, and Ty only wanted to play at most 9 when games really mattered. Thus, in the playoffs, Amir was shifted out entirely, and did not appear for one moment in the postseason, even in garbage time. It was a quiet end to what had been a nice season for the veteran swingman.
Future with Clippers
After six years of providing frankly incredible value to the Clippers on first two-way and then cheap regular contracts, Amir Coffey will finally enter unrestricted free agency. While there certainly does not seem like there’s any bad blood between Amir and the Clippers, the fact that Amir was deliberately held out of all postseason games would indicate the sides are preparing to part ways. The Clippers are probably looking to get younger, and while Amir, at 28, would actually be among the younger members of the rotation, that fact is what the Clippers will be trying to fix.
All that said, I don’t think it’s impossible that Amir is back on the Clippers next year, even if it’s unlikely. If there isn’t a market for Amir elsewhere, a one-year deal to get him back onto the open market in the summer of 2027, when there should be more money available, could do him a solid. That plan also works for the Clippers, who don’t want to take on long-term money, but have no real choice but to run things back next year while they clear their books for the summers of 2026 and 2027.
In the end though, I think a team will offer Amir a multi-year deal of some kind that the Clippers can’t or won’t want to match – if Amir even has any interest in returning to the Clips. Amir has long been more of a fringe piece for the Clippers, and hopefully he gets a shot from a team to be a firmer part of their rotation. If this was it for Amir on the Clippers, he will still end his Clippers tenure as the best undrafted signing in franchise history and someone that will have a lot of fans in the city of angels.