Clippers Meet With Bryant

Offering no details and providing little insight, the Clippers acknowledged meeting Wednesday night with free agent Kobe Bryant. If they knew which way he was leaning, they didn’t say.

Meanwhile, Clipper free agent Quentin Richardson said Thursday he was “definitely excited” about agreeing to terms with the Phoenix Suns on an offer sheet that would pay him as much as $48 million to $50 million over six years.

“I think I’m in a good position right now,” Richardson said.

A restricted free agent, Richardson would be eligible to sign the offer sheet after 9 p.m. PDT Tuesday, after which the Clippers would have 15 days to match the offer or lose the rights to their third-leading scorer from last season.

Either way, Richardson, 24, gets a fat, new contract after making $1.8 million last season, when he averaged a career-high 17.2 points.

The Clippers won’t match, of course, if they land Bryant.

They in essence had prepared for Wednesday night’s meeting for nine months, having cleared cap space since last fall, when they learned that Bryant might actually consider making a move from the Lakers.

So after finally getting a chance to meet with Bryant face to face they were reluctant to divulge much, presumably in fear of saying something that could be taken out of context. They wouldn’t say where the meeting took place. Nor would they say who was there or what specifically was discussed.

“I will say this: We don’t intend to get into any details or specifics other than to say that the meeting went well,” General Manager Elgin Baylor said. “I think any other details or specifics you want to know, you should talk to Kobe’s agent, or Kobe.”

Bryant’s agent, Rob Pelinka, did not return phone calls.

“I thought the meeting went very well,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said, acknowledging that he was there. “It’s really up to them. They decide how the meeting ultimately went, right? But I thought everything was fine....

“We talked a lot of basketball, and styles, things of that nature.”

Like every other team pursuing Bryant, an unrestricted free agent, the Clippers are at a financial disadvantage against the Lakers. Because of salary-cap rules, the Lakers can offer Bryant a maximum contract of about $130 million over seven years, every other team about $100 million over six.

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Shaun Livingston, the Clippers’ first-round draft pick, was scheduled to have a wart removed from his right foot Thursday, a procedure expected to sideline him for two weeks. The Clippers had previously announced that Livingston would not play in the Pro Summer League at Long Beach State.