There have been reports that the Golden State Warriors will sign Los Angeles Clippers restricted free agent big man DeAndre Jordan to a 4-year $40 million deal, but according to ESPN's Ric Bucher the Clips plan to match the W's offer for Jordan, which if kept, would put Chris Kaman is a position to almost have to request a trade.
Owner Donald Sterling has a number of motivational factors to keep Jordan, one of the largest being trying to sign Blake Griffin to the Clippers long term, which keeping Jordan around would help. The two are close friends.
Another factor is the fact that Chris Paul may be disinterested without a guy like Jordan around to complement the rest of the team's talents, so he may not end up going there. Bucher points out another interesting point about this whole scenario:
A salary averaging $10 million annually is a breathtaking leap for a player who averaged seven points and seven rebounds last season, which was Jordan's third in the NBA -- for which he made less than $900,000.
Jordan is undoubtedly going to see a large increase in minutes and hopefully production with his increased salary, bringing raw athleticism and power to where ever his talents may wind up.
As for Kaman, a free agent next summer, he would likely request a trade if Jordan were to stick around, losing almost all his playing time in the process.
Kaman played in only 32 games last season, averaged 18.5 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocked shots in 76 games in09-10, earning an All-Star nod in the process.
Teams who already have expressed an interest in Kaman are the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz according to Bucher.
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