COMMENTARY : Break Up the Clippers? It May Happen

Their day will come.

Of course, time is running out in the 20th Century and half the Clippers’ players might be out of here by 1995, so man may have landed on Mars before the Larry O’Brien Trophy reaches the Sports Arena.

No matter how much talent the Clippers have, or how much character they developed, or how close they came, there is but one question:

What now?

Where will Danny Manning, Ron Harper, Ken Norman and Gary Grant be next fall?

Donald T. Sterling has built a budding powerhouse, even if it took him all of the ‘80s and the ‘90s and he had to throw enough lottery parties to feed the entire West Side.

That was the easy part.

The hard part is keeping it together, which will be a bunt compared to rebuilding if it breaks up.

“You know, I hear these comments about my relationship with Danny and management’s situation with the players and stuff,” Coach Larry Brown said, “and most of the time I hear it, people don’t know what the hell they’re talking about.

“Yeah, it’s my hope that we’ll make every effort to sign all the guys. I think they took the first step signing Mark (Jackson). But it’s also my hope that everything turns out best for guys if they decide they want to be somewhere else.

“We have some good pieces. We have two big guys (Stanley Roberts and John Williams). If they can get themselves in the kind of condition that they need to be in to play in this league, I don’t think we’d be so disappointed at this particular moment.

“I’ve talked to Mr. Sterling since the All-Star break, and he’s inclined to get something done.”

Norman is an unrestricted free agent. The Clippers have to pick up Harper’s $4-million option, which they have signaled they don’t intend to do, or he will be unrestricted, too. Grant is restricted, meaning the Clippers have the right to match any offer, but they are expected to let him test the market.

Manning, the linchpin, says he will sign his qualifying offer this summer, making him unrestricted after next season.

All the other problems could be solved with money, but it may be too late for this one. The relationship between Manning and the Clippers went wrong from the moment David Stern drew the Clipper card in 1988 and Elgin Baylor whipped out a jersey with Manning’s name on it.

Manning, asked his plans after Saturday’s season-ending loss to Houston, said only, “I don’t want to comment on that right now.”

So it’s possible that 18-footer he made with his lightning release, cutting what had been a 16-point deficit to 79-78, was his last in a Clipper uniform.

Harper was asked what his deal was.

“‘It’s up to them,” he said. “We wait and see. We wait and see.”

So it’s possible that driving finger roll he made with 1:17 left, vintage Harper, putting the Clippers ahead for the last time this season, was his last in Los Angeles.

Norman?

“I really don’t want to get into that now,” he said.

So Norman, who holds the record for games played as a Clipper, may be a goner.

Norman said all season he wanted to stay, but negotiations went nowhere. Norman lives in Chicago. If he can make more as a Bull, Buck or Piston than as a Clipper, he’ll take his heavy heart east.

“I think we really came together as a family and put everything aside and just went out and tried to win,” Norman said.

“You know, we’ve really come a long way in two years, or in six years since I’ve been here. We’re right there in terms of being a championship-type team.

“No question, if we stay together, with a few minor adjustments. . . . Not taking anything away from Houston, they did a hell of a job, but I don’t think the best team won.”

Guys always say that. We’re good, we came together, etc., but this time it’s true. The Clipper future is now, the only problem being it may come and go before anyone knew it arrived.