Richardson Wants Out

While the Clippers waited for a decision from Kobe Bryant on Tuesday, Quentin Richardson was in Phoenix shopping for real estate.

A restricted free agent after four years with the Clippers, Richardson signed an offer sheet with the Phoenix Suns after 9 p.m. PDT, a six-year deal worth $45 million, with potential bonuses that could push its value closer to $50 million.

The Clippers have 15 days to match the offer or lose the rights to their third-leading scorer and second-leading rebounder from last season.

They won’t match if they land Bryant. The Laker free agent has been offered about $100 million over six years by the Clippers, who are expected to announce today that they have traded backups Melvin Ely and Eddie House to the Charlotte Bobcats for two future second-round draft picks, clearing out the last bit of cap space to open a maximum slot.

But even if they don’t sign Bryant, a source said, the Clippers might not match the offer to Richardson.

He hopes they don’t.

“It’s time for me to move on and be a Phoenix Sun,” Richardson said.

The 6-foot-5 guard said that he was not insulted by the Clippers’ pursuit of Bryant but viewed it as a sign that he’d better be prepared to leave.

“I took it like, they’re going to do what they feel is best for the organization and for the team,” he said. “I don’t have anything against that, but at the same time, that being said, when they show me something like that, that makes me feel like, ‘Well, OK, I have to do what’s best for me.’ And I feel like what’s best for me is going out and being a Phoenix Sun.”

He urged the Clippers to let him go, Bryant or no Bryant.

“If things don’t work out for you,” he said, “I don’t feel that you should take away from me. I didn’t go to the media and complain and say, ‘They’re not committed to me; they’re doing this.’ I didn’t cry about it.

“I just went out and did ultimately what I felt was best for me. I think you can only respect that. I would never dog the organization because I had a good time there.... I could go out and try to bash them in the papers or whatever, but ultimately it’s what they want to do, so it makes no sense to take that approach. I feel like I’m going to be a man about it, let them know where I stand and how I feel about it. They’ll either let me have what I want, or they won’t.”

The Clippers declined to comment.

While awaiting the Clippers’ decision, Richardson, 24, looks forward to joining the Suns after establishing career highs last season with averages of 17.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists.

“Ultimately, my biggest thing was to go out and get a deal with a team that I could see myself playing for, and I’ve done that,” he said. “I love the situation I’m in. They just signed Steve Nash and they’ve got Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion -- a good core group of guys. We could do some good things.

“That’s the biggest thing for me: I want to win. I said that from day one with the Clippers. That’s all I’m about: I want to win; I want to be part of a winning team.”

In the desert, he hopes.

The Suns, he said, “took a leap of faith” in signing him.

“It takes a lot for a team to extend an offer to a restricted free agent when they know your team could possibly match,” he said. “I’ve got a great deal of respect for the organization for that.

“You don’t do that unless you’re really interested in somebody.”