Clippers Are Having All Kinds of Trouble : Pro basketball: Rockets score 113-103 victory. Contract controversies won’t go away.

As The Clipper World Turns:

--The star forward says his problems are in the past, but the team faces the realization it might trade him anyway.

--Several other players deal with similar contract-related uncertainty as, according to one, it affects their game.

--The team shoots 58.4%, falls behind by 20 and loses by 10.

--Dour expressions are the dress of the day.

“Nobody has fun driving down here anymore,” Ron Harper said after the Clippers lost to Houston, 113-103, Tuesday night before 9,472 at the Sports Arena for their fifth loss in six games. “Down faces. Sad people.”

The Clippers, back at .500 at 17-17, seem to be affected by the events around them. The most prominent is the attention given Danny Manning’s trade request, but the continuing saga of five prominent players being in the final year of their contracts lingers noticeably.

“Sure,” Coach Larry Brown said. “But I think it’s a lot of things. If you look at the team, a lot of guys have some uncertainty. It’s difficult. Sometimes, guys focus in on individual situations and not the team.”

The Rockets came in having lost six of seven, but didn’t need the entire first quarter to build a double-digit lead, the Clippers doing their part with eight turnovers. Houston went ahead by as many as 15 points in the second quarter, were up by 11 at halftime, then 17 late in the third quarter.

Finally, the advantage went to 20, 96-76, with 11:13 to play. It was the fourth time in five games the Clippers have been down by at least 20 points, again forcing them to make a late charge to make the final score respectable.

With all the attention surrounding the Manning-Brown controversy, the game had become something of an afterthought to everyone except those involved.

The latest development was Monday’s lengthy meeting with Manning and his agent, Ron Grinker, and General Manager Elgin Baylor. This was not quite the high-noon showdown it could have been had Brown attended and Manning not backed away on a claim that he wanted to be traded, but it was insightful anyway.

Among the conclusions:

--Most notable, the Clippers were told Manning is not closing any doors on the future, but that he still plans to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of next season. From this comes the admission that the team’s best player might have to go on the trading block while a chance remains to get equal value.

--The Clippers might soon give Grinker permission to talk with other teams to set up a deal. The agent’s role becomes prominent in this situation because any team that has interest in Manning will want to know its chances of keeping him beyond July of 1993. That gives Manning an indirect right of first refusal even before becoming a free agent, rare control elsewhere but becoming commonplace around the Sports Arena because Charles Smith had a similar power in the summer in agreeing to be traded to New York.

--The Clippers again made an attempt to open negotiations on a new long-term contract. Manning and Grinker again said no.

--The Clippers are dealing from a position of weakness, and they know it.

“It’s a no-win situation for us,” Brown said before Tuesday’s game. “It’s a terrific situation for them.”

Clipper Notes

Stanley Roberts, much maligned for arriving at camp at around 320 pounds and then for being out of shape when the weight came off, is now drawing praise for progress in getting down to his playing weight of about 290 while improving his cardiovascular work to almost 100%. “In the beginning of the year, he would make three trips downcourt and look over at me to get him out,” Coach Larry Brown said. “I’d turn my head the other way and pretend not to see him. Now, he doesn’t want to come out.” Roberts had played a season-high 30 minutes both last Wednesday and Friday and then went 32 against the Bucks Sunday at Milwaukee. “I put myself in this predicament,” he said. “I’m just glad I got myself out of it. It was a hard road to to travel.” Added Brown: “I looked out there (Sunday) and felt he could have played 40 minutes. A month ago, I didn’t feel he could have played four straight.”

Reserve guard Jaren Jackson, who had averaged about 10 minutes, fractured his right ankle in the second quarter and is expected to miss four to six weeks. . . . John Williams missed his second consecutive game with a sprained right arch and remains day to day. The Clippers’ next game is Thursday against the Lakers at the Sports Arena. . . . Elmore Spencer did not play because of bronchitis.