Clippers Retain Brand, Pursue Arenas

In bold strokes until now unheard of for the Clippers, the team Saturday formally matched Miami’s $82-million offer to Elton Brand and made a $60-million offer of their own to Golden State’s Gilbert Arenas, the last big prize on the free-agent market.

Brand’s new six-year Clipper contract is a landmark for the team. Before this, its biggest contract had been Eric Piatkowski’s five-year, $15-million deal.

“I never doubted the outcome of this process,” General Manager Elgin Baylor said in a prepared statement, “and I couldn’t be happier.”

He couldn’t be much busier, either. The Clippers, who had promised to take the full 15 days to make their decision, are now trying to arrange their payroll so they can make a last-minute pitch for Arenas.

The Clippers’ offer to Arenas matches that of Washington, which had been the high bidder before Saturday. However, Arenas played at Van Nuys Grant High, giving the Clippers the home-court advantage in this game.

The Clippers still expect to match Utah’s $7-million-a-year offer to Corey Maggette and are hoping to extend Lamar Odom for a salary in that range.

The Clippers already lost center Michael Olowokandi and signaled they will not match Denver’s offer to point guard Andre Miller. However, getting Brand, Odom, Maggette and Arenas would leave them with a deep, talented roster.

It would also give them something they have never had: a stable nucleus, all locked up for years and able to concentrate on the task at hand.

Last season went up in smoke with their promising, young squad, demoralized by management’s failure to sign any of them in the off-season. They lost their opener to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who would win only two more road games. The Clippers, who had won 39 games the season before, finished 27-55.

Nevertheless, Brand averaged his usual 18.5 points and 10.7 rebounds, and ranked in the NBA’s top 20 in offensive rebounds (he led the league at 4.6 a game) shooting (50.2%), minutes per game (39.6) and blocks per game (2.55).

When Brand signed the Miami offer sheet last week, he reportedly asked Clipper owner Donald T. Sterling not to re-sign him. However, Brand had vowed never to sign a one-year offer, saying he’d be happy to stay if the money was right. As an agent noted last week, “I don’t think Elton cares.”

Indeed, after reports of his dissatisfaction made the papers, Brand was asking newsmen not to make too much of it anymore. In a departure from the team’s tradition, he may not be a Clipper for life, but he’ll be around for a while.