NBA Free Agents: Paying Price to Keep DeAndre Jordan a No-Brainer for Clippers

One way or another, DeAndre Jordan is going to get paid this offseason. The only question is which team was going to pay him.

Right now, it's looking like Jordan is going to stay put in Los Angeles. ESPNLosAngeles.com reported that Jordan had signed a four-year, $43 million offer sheet from the Golden State Warriors, but ESPN's Ric Bucher apparently has it on good authority that the Clippers are prepared to match the Warriors' offer.

As well they should. You only need one hand to count how many promising young centers there are in the NBA, and Jordan is one of them. He made great strides in 2010-2011, establishing career highs across the board. He still has a lot of work to do, but he's only 23 and getting better.

Assuming they do bring Jordan back, the Clippers will effectively keep their talented frontcourt intact. Jordan is a rising star, newly-signed small forward Caron Butler is a serviceable player and power forward Blake Griffin is a star. Without Jordan around to help him out, Griffin could have been in for tough sledding in the lockout-shortened 2011-2012 season.

Have the Warriors forced the Clippers to overpay to bring Jordan back? That's a good question, as nearly $11 million per year is a lot to pay for a guy who only averaged seven points and seven rebounds per game last season.

When they match the Warriors' offer sheet, the Clippers will be indicating that they are willing to bet Jordan will keep getting better. In my estimation, it's a good gamble.

In addition, it doesn't hurt that the Clippers remain in the hunt to land New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul, who is supposedly attracted to playing with Jordan.

Concerning the Warriors, they had to be hoping their offer would be too steep for the Clippers. They need a defensive-minded big man, and Jordan became an attractive option after they missed out on Tyson Chandler, who will be playing for the New York Knicks this season and beyond.

The Warriors may now be forced to focus their attention on Clippers backup center Chris Kaman. Per one of Bucher's sources, the Clippers will pretty much have to put him on the trading block when they secure Jordan, and the Warriors may have no choice but to inquire about Kaman seeing as how the free agent market is starting to run out of centers. 

While the Warriors scramble to solve their own center problems, the Clippers will be able to rest easy knowing they don't have one.