Clippers, Benjamin Still a Long Way From Agreement

Half of the 24 first-round draft choices in the National Basketball Assn. are still unsigned only a few days before training camps open, but many either have reached tentative agreements or are close to signing. Not so 7-foot Benoit Benjamin, the Clippers’ first-round pick and the third overall selection.

Larry Fleisher, Benjamin’s agent, said that the Clippers and Benjamin are “enormously far apart” and that it would be virtually impossible for the sides to reach an agreement before the Clippers open camp Saturday at Cal Poly Pomona.

Neither Fleisher nor Carl Scheer, the Clippers’ general manager, would talk specifically about the negotiations, but sources close to the talks said that Benjamin is seeking either a three-year contract guaranteed for $1 million a year or a five-year guaranteed deal at slightly less than $1 million a year.

The Clippers, sources say, have offered Benjamin a one-year contract at $750,000, which would give him an early opportunity to test the free-agent market.

“I wanted to start negotiating with the Clippers 2 1/2 months ago, but they wanted to wait to see what (top overall pick Patrick) Ewing and (second pick) Wayman Tisdale will receive,” Fleisher said earlier this week. “I always contended that we were never comparing Ewing to Benoit.”

It is believed that the Clippers will wait to sign Benjamin until after the Indiana Pacers complete contract talks with Tisdale, but those negotiations have also stalled.

Because of salary-cap restrictions, the Clippers will not sign free-agent guard Norm Nixon until Benjamin is signed. Even if a team is at its salary limit, it can sign its own free agent regardless of the cost. Last week, Scheer made an offer, which Nixon rejected.

In a related matter, Naomi Wilkes, attorney and sister of free-agent forward Jamaal Wilkes, said Wednesday she is optimist that Wilkes will be a Clipper by the end of the week. “But I’m a bit guarded because I haven’t talked to (the Clipper) lawyers yet,” she said.