Lakers Pull Back Contract Offer to Green; Clippers Show Interest

The plot took another turn in the ongoing A.C. Green saga on Tuesday, when the Lakers announced they pulled their five-year contract offer off the table and it was learned the Clippers have entered the bidding.

This does not necessarily mean the end of the Green-Laker relationship. It is an indication of the team’s growing frustration at negotiations having dragged out for much of the summer, not the severing of ties.

“We value A.C. Green very, very highly,” Laker General Manager Jerry West said. “And we like to preserve relationships with the people we have had here a long time. But this offer has been out there for more than two months. In any business, and certainly this one I believe, we are negotiating against ourselves.”

Asked if the door is closed to Green returning, West said: “I don’t know that. Jerry Buss would have to make that decision.”

The Lakers have reportedly offered $3.5 million a year for five seasons, a figure Green’s agent, Marc Fleisher, says is inflated. The next closest bid is the $1.885 million Phoenix has for 1993-94, with the annual increases depending on the outcome of rulings on other contracts by a special arbitrator. Green has said he would like to play for a title contender.

The Clippers can start at $1.25 million, the slot made available when Ken Norman signed with Milwaukee as a free agent. While realizing that they can not compete financially without making another major move to clear room under the salary cap, they last week began to pursue contract talks.

Fleisher said the Clippers are “realistically in the picture.”

The Lakers also announced Tuesday they have signed guard Dexter Boney, an All-Big West selection last season at Nevada Las Vegas.