I am suspicious about BD leaving $18M on the table at a moments notice. Seems like he is cooking something.

Brand mentioned the Philadelphia 76ers as a possible destination.

“Bottom line is, we’d like to do a long-term deal with him,” Dunleavy said by phone.

Pretty vague. The rest of the story reiterates EB’s assertion that he wants to remain a Clipper. He would like to see Udrih on the team.

The Clippers appear to be the only realistic free-agent destination for Davis if his opt-out gamble doesn’t lead to a new round of contract negotiations with the Warriors or if he can’t convince Golden State to participate in a sign-and-trade. Memphis and Philadelphia are the only other teams with cap space to offer and neither is expected to pursue Davis.

NBA front-office sources said early Tuesday that the Clippers would be making an immediate run at trying to pair Davis with Brand, although that would almost certainly require L.A. to abandon any interest in re-signing swingman Corey Maggette - who also opted out his contract Monday after averaging 22.1 points per game last season - and force Brand to take a slight pay cut.

WHOA!

Unless the S&T route with GSW is taken, Corey is out some money here, since the Clips would have to renounce him to sign Davis.

Am I wrong, or when I left to go to pick up the zhivwife and go to dinner the plan was to make a quick offer to Udrih, and Baron Davis wasn’t worth discussing? Brand had just officially opted out, although there was no story yet about the “team-building” approach. I said it was “nervous time.” And I actually came out of retirement myself and played some 2-on-2 with some 13-15 year olds, perhaps just the right bit of humiliation in search of hoops harmony.

In all of this excitement and speculation-and it’s kind of funny that all of a sudden the Clips are driving favorable scenarios, all of which were absent for the last week-no one has really expanded on what might be gained in a larger sense if Baron Davis joins the Clippers. Aside from being obvious contenders, the part that hasn’t been mentioned is that Davis would literally be a marketing dream and bonanza. Davis has the full package, he has street cred and charisma, he has South LA, West LA and UCLA connections, he has Hollywood connections and a young hip crowd would suddenly be sitting in floor seats at Clipper games. In short, the Clippers can make a lot of money if they can figure out a way to get Baron Davis to play in LA. Davis, with Brand alongside him, would be an immediate draw to go up against Kobe and the Lakers. The team would be highly competitive and should be able to make money by playing in the playoffs. Clipper merchandise would become a hot property, and the Nation would grow exponentially overnight. Davis is a closer and clutch player who is at his best in the spotlight, and he has laid a lot of groundwork for a triumphant arrival on an LA NBA franchise. It’s all there for him and EB and the other talented players on the roster. But my primary point is that there is a lot of money to be made here, and it seems like the NBA would be very supportive.

Now we wait to see if Brand and the Clippers can pull it off. And I mention Brand because I believe he’s part of it, taking an active and creative role in determining his own fate and that of the team.

I have a feeling Baron is just using the clippers like Kobe did when he was a free agent. He’ll use "going to the clippers" to make golden state fork over the cash. Meanwhile, the clips will have missed out on all the “quality” point guards, and we’ll see another year of brevin knight running the show.

I hate to be the pessimist but in our case, the glass is half empty.

what does that tell you?