LOS ANGELES _ The Los Angeles Clippers retained the heart of their second unit on Sunday, agreeing to re-sign star sixth man Jamal Crawford to a three-year, $42 million contract after an initial smaller offer had left him hesitant about a future with the team.
A previous offer of one year and $12 million had given Crawford reason to mull other offers, especially after the Clippers had agreed to give Austin Rivers _ a backup guard with a far lesser NBA pedigree _ a contract for three years and $35.7 million.
Ultimately, Crawford stayed put with the team where he won two of his three sixth man of the year awards after saying it was his preference to remain with the Clippers.
It vastly helped that the Clippers held Crawford's Bird Rights, allowing them to exceed the salary cap to re-sign him. They have now agreed to re-sign the core of their reserves with Crawford, Rivers and Wesley Johnson all agreeing to come back.
But the Clippers' second unit won't be fully intact. Cole Aldrich agreed to sign a three-year, $22 million contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday and Jeff Green agreed on Friday to sign with the Orlando Magic for one year and $15 million. The team is still believed to have interest in re-signing Luc Mbah a Moute, its starting small forward last season.
The Clippers would have had a hard time replacing Crawford's offense, not to mention his galvanizing locker-room presence, had he departed. He averaged 14.2 points and 2.3 assists last season while making 34.0 percent of his three-pointers.
Crawford is 36 but has not shown any appreciable drop in performance in recent seasons and has said he wanted to play at least four or five more years.
The third year of Crawford's contract is partially guaranteed.
