Nixon Gets Offer; Clippers Face Rockets

The Clippers, who put their 5-0 record on the line tonight against the Houston Rockets, exercised their option Wednesday and officially tendered free-agent guard Norm Nixon a one-year contract for $413,000, which was his salary last season.

That action, available to the Clippers under terms of the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, gives Nixon and his representatives only until Nov. 21 to present the Clippers with an offer sheet from another team. If Nixon cannot produce an offer sheet, he can either sit out the season, negotiate a better contract with the Clippers or accept the one-year offer.

But Clipper President Alan Rothenberg said that the Clippers’ latest offer of a three-year contract for $500,000 a year, which Nixon rejected Tuesday, still stands.

“I didn’t think we had any alternative but to make that one-year offer,” Rothenberg said. “It’s like we’re saying, ‘All right, Norm, you’ve got two weeks, either find an offer elsewhere or talk to us again.’ I think our latest offer is generous.”

Meanwhile, agent Tom Collins said that New York, Chicago and Houston are still talking to the Clippers. But no offer was tendered by Wednesday, and Collins said he is being patient.

Collins did confirm that he and Chicago Bulls General Manager Jerry Krause have talked about a three-year contract for $600,000 a year. “And that’s all cash, not 30% deferred like the Clippers are offering,” Collins said. “We’re still talking.”

Nixon’s chances of signing with New York are “up in the air,” according to Collins. The New Jersey Nets matched the Knicks’ offer sheet on free-agent forward Albert King, but there is speculation that the Nets will now trade King to the Knicks for a first-round draft choice and other considerations.

Clipper Coach Don Chaney, who admits that Nixon’s unsure status bothers him, said he is trying to keep his team focused on tonight’s game, which Chaney called the Clippers’ toughest so far.

“If we could win this one, it would give us even better momentum,” Chaney said. “We may be 5-0, but your better teams win on the road. We have to be able to do that.”

Center James Donaldson has a sore right hamstring, but he is expected to play. Chaney will go with a starting lineup of Donaldson, forwards Marques Johnson and Cedric Maxwell, and guards Franklin Edwards and Derek Smith.

But Chaney said he might play 7-foot rookie Benoit Benjamin with the 7-foot Donaldson when the Rockets’ Ralph Sampson and Akeem Olajuwon, the Twin Towers, are playing together.