Clippers Lose to Nets, Fail to Trade Benjamin

Roy Hinson scored 35 points, and Lester Conner had a career-high 18 assists as the New Jersey Nets extended the Clippers’ losing streak to seven games with a 111-100 victory Thursday night.

The Clippers, who have lost 26 of their last 27 games, including 15 in a row on the road, haven’t beaten an Eastern Conference team on the road in 36 consecutive games, dating back three years.

Dennis Hopson had 17 points and Conner 12 for the Nets, while Ken Norman led the Clippers with 16.

Clipper efforts to deal Benoit Benjamin, who will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season, failed as the league’s trading deadline passed Thursday night without the team making a move, General Manager Elgin Baylor said.

Benjamin, the enigmatic center, had never asked to be traded. But his New York-based agent, Larry Fleisher, has made it clear Benjamin will not be easy to re-sign when his four-year contract expires at the end of the season.

“Disappointed? Yeah,” Fleisher said when asked about non-developments in trade talk, which most often centered around the Sacramento Kings. “I think so. I think it would have been better for everyone if they made a deal for him.”

Fleisher’s comments put pressure on the Clippers to trade Benjamin, who has remained noncommital on the matter. Fleisher has said Benjamin does not intend to remain with the organization after his contract runs out.

“He’s made a public stand which gives a player--particularly Ben as a sensitive guy--that limbo feeling,” Clipper Coach Don Casey said before the game against the Nets. “I think he (Benjamin) is a little bewildered because I don’t think he wanted to go.”

Teams are not allowed to trade again until the end of the playoffs.