Edwards May Leave Clippers : Basketball: Team picks up center’s option, but he may take buyout instead.

The Clippers picked up the option on James Edwards for 1992-93, but the veteran center, speaking through agent Reggie Turner, said Thursday he has had a change of heart and may exercise a buyout clause July 1.

“We’re up in the air right now,” Turner said.

Edwards has until Wednesday to decide to pay the $250,000 that would make him an unrestricted free agent, then would have until July 31 to pay the amount. The Clippers, without the right of first refusal, could then be forced into a bidding war to retain their possible opening-night starter.

His preference is to stay with the Clippers, but the change of heart in contemplating the buyout clause apparently comes from concern that he might be packaged as part of a trade. As a free agent, Edwards, who just finished his 15th pro season, might be able to pick his team.

It is also a change of stance in the negotiations. When he staged a brief holdout in training camp last fall, in hopes of getting a contract extension, the Clippers had all the leverage, leaving Edwards only the option of retirement if he did not want to report after being traded from Detroit.

Now, Edwards could make things uncomfortable for the Clippers, seeing as the other centers are Elmore Spencer, the 25th selection in Wednesday’s draft, and William Bedford, in Los Angeles only for salary-cap purposes as part of the trade with Detroit that brought Don MacLean.

Spencer, friends since high school with the Clippers’ other first-round draft choice, Randy Woods, plans to contribute however needed.

“My intention and hopes are to start,” the 7-footer from Nevada Las Vegas said. “But I want to do whatever is beneficial for the team. Whatever Coach (Larry) Brown and the team says will benefit the team, I’m all for.”

Clipper Notes

Former Duke guard Quin Snyder, the son-in-law of Larry Brown, is expected to be named an assistant coach. His exact duties have yet to be defined. . . . Add Mark Jackson of the New York Knicks to the list of point guards the Clippers have pursued in the off-season. . . . Don MacLean has been a regular in the UCLA weight room since the end of the Bruins’ season and said he has bulked up from 222 pounds to 230, mostly in the upper body. “If you get it in your head the NBA is going to be more physical, you have half the battle won,” he said.