Richardson Awaits Their Match Play

Plan A -- lure Kobe Bryant from the Lakers -- ended badly.

More than a week later, their salary-cap flexibility still intact but their roster full of holes, the Clippers still are at work on Plan B.

If it involves Quentin Richardson, he would love to know.

After averaging career highs of 17.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists last season, his fourth with the Clippers, Richardson last week signed a six-year, $42.6-million offer sheet with the Phoenix Suns.

The Clippers have until Thursday to match it, or lose him.

In other words, they have five more shopping days to search for a better option, knowing that if they find none, Plan Q will still be sitting there.

Meanwhile, Richardson waits to hear where he’ll be playing next season, one foot in the Suns’ camp and the other in the Clippers’, his big payday coming either way and his preference of little or no concern to the Clippers.

Last summer, Elton Brand and Corey Maggette signed offer sheets elsewhere, the Clippers reeled them back in and both enjoyed stellar seasons.

“Right now, I’m just hanging out, just waiting for whatever’s going to happen,” Richardson said Friday. “I try not to put so much on it where I’m going to be stressing on it and stuff like that. I just try not to think about it and just try to go about my day just doing other stuff -- working out, being around my girl and my friends and stuff and just doing that.

“That’s all I can do right now, you know what I’m saying? Business as usual, and no later than the 29th I’ll know one way or the other.”

Before becoming a restricted free agent July 1, Richardson said his first priority was to stay with the Clippers. Last week, after signing with the Suns, he said it was time for him to move on and he hoped the Clippers understood.

On Friday, he wavered. “I’m still looking forward to being a Sun,” he said, “but I feel like my worst-case scenario is still a good situation for me.”

That would be staying with the Clippers, who put him on hold while they pursued Bryant. When Bryant re-signed with the Lakers, the Clippers looked into other options, their cap space in the neighborhood of $14 million and Kerry Kittles of the New Jersey Nets and Ray Allen of the Seattle SuperSonics said to be on the block.

They’re still looking.

They have six players under contract for next season: Brand, Maggette, Chris Kaman, Bobby Simmons, Chris Wilcox and Marko Jaric. Two other roster spots will be filled by draft picks Shaun Livingston and Lionel Chalmers.

The Clippers hardly lamented the departures of Melvin Ely, Eddie House and Predrag Drobnjak, all of whom were traded to the Charlotte Bobcats, or Keyon Dooling, who signed Thursday with the Miami Heat after the Clippers declined to offer him a new contract. All were jettisoned to clear cap space for their pursuit of Bryant, but none figured prominently in the Clippers’ plans anyway. Nor did Matt Barnes or Doug Overton, whose contracts expired June 30.

Either via trades or free-agent signings, the Clippers hope to land a shooting guard, a backup center and depth at point guard. Matching on Richardson would leave them about $9 million in cap space to fill out their roster.

On the Richardson decision, at least, the clock is ticking.

“We’re just looking at it like, it’s going to go down to the last day,” Richardson said. “If it happens before then, that’s just a bonus, I guess.”