The Los Angeles Clippers underwent a resurgence under point guard Chris Paul and despite the fact that he is going to be unrestricted free agent, the team feels that it can retain the star for the future.
According to ESPN.com, Paul said he was not yet sure what to do after leaving the team facility on Saturday after being eliminated from the playoffs, while the front office was more confident. Clippers vice president of basketball operations Gary Sacks said that they are "very confident" about resigning Paul and that the team has yet to get into details as he can't sign an extension until July 1, when the period begins.
Paul can sign a large deal with the team at five years and over $100 million and he likely will look for something in that range after spurning a $60 million extension that he could have signed last year. At the time the three-years was all the Clippers were allowed to offer, but now that he is on their team, they can offer five and Sacks said that would be the biggest priority this offseason.
The Clippers have a number of issues to deal with this offseason, including whether to retain head coach Vinny Del Negro, who has his deal expire in June. The team likely will want a coach that is approved by Paul and Star Blake Griffin, who is signed to a five year deal as well worth over $90 million. Del Negro has been with the team a number of years and at times butted heads with Paul, but proved to be one of the best coaches this year.
The Clippers lost to the Grizzlies in six games in the playoffs and Sacks said that the offseason would be one of the most important in recent memory for the franchise. The team was better than the Lakers all season while playing in the same arena and they will attempt to continue that type of play as the future comes. While Paul did not say for sure what he was leaning towards, he has repeatedly said that he enjoys LA and liked living there and playing for the Clippers. Paul said that he would take his time while making a decision and that he hasn't yet thought about what to do.
The Knicks will likely take a chance at signing him if they can figure out the cap space and that would end up making true the joke he had at Carmelo Anthony's wedding when he said he would join him and Amare in New York, but if he comes it likely would be at the expense of Stoudemire.
"A lot of that information we'll keep private, because that's an internal thing, but I feel very confident," Sacks said. "I think he's an integral part of this. We feel like we had a great partnership for the last couple of years and we want to continue it obviously. These are decisions that have to be made and some of them will be taken care of at the appropriate time. We can't talk to him until July 1, so we'll go ahead and do that. We'll move forward when it's appropriate."
