Davis Stays a Hornet With $84-Million Deal

Point guard Baron Davis is staying with the Hornets after all, finally signing a contract extension with the team that moved to New Orleans this off-season.

Bob Bass, Hornet executive vice president, said Tuesday the contract adds six years to the one year left on Davis’ previous deal.

The team, which recently moved from Charlotte, reportedly had offered Davis an $84-million package. While not confirming the compensation details, Bass said Davis would earn an annual salary equal to about 25% of the NBA team salary cap. The cap is $40.271 million for the 2002-03 season and is adjusted annually.

The Hornets first made the offer to Davis on July 1, but for more than three weeks he remained undecided. He was rumored in possible trades to the Clippers and New York Knicks. However, Bass remained firm that he had no intention of trading Davis.

At Tuesday’s news conference, Davis said he decided to stay with the Hornets because he did not want to start over again on a new team.

“I’m not greedy, I’m not selfish, I just wanted to make the right decision. This was the biggest decision I’ve had to make in my life,� he said. “It’s been a long, tough process.�

Davis, who averaged 18.1 points, 8.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds last season, is the first player in the Hornets’ 14-year history that they have offered a maximum money contract extension.

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The Dallas Mavericks re-signed forward-center Raef LaFrentz to a seven-year, $67-million contract, making sure they keep the player with the outside touch that they acquired at the trade deadline last season.

“This is the place to be,� LaFrentz, 26, said. “This is the team of the future. Last year we fell short of our long-term goal. But we’re young and going to have a large window. I feel good to be a part of it.�

In 27 regular-season games with Dallas, the 6-foot-11, 265-pound LaFrentz averaged 10.8 points, down from 14.9 in 51 games with the Denver Nuggets. His rebound average of 7.4 was the same with both teams.

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Free-agent center Keon Clark was cited for marijuana possession in Danville, Ill., and must appear in court next month.

Clark, 27, was ticketed at 10:50 p.m. on Sunday for having about a gram of marijuana in his car, city attorney David Wesner said. Clark, formerly of the Toronto Raptors, was not arrested.

He will appear in Danville Municipal Court on Aug. 22, and if found guilty, Clark could be fined between $250 and $1,500.

Wesner said Clark was cited about two years ago for a similar offense.

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The Lakers’ Shaquille O’Neal has worked out a deal of nearly $100 million to buy housing intended for thousands of lower-income Colorado residents.

O’Neal is a general partner with American Housing Preservation Corp. of Portland, Maine, to buy 21 communities from Greenwood Village, Colo.-based Urban Inc., an investor and developer of affordable housing.

The communities are in Denver, Pueblo, Buena Vista, Fort Lupton and Canon City.

O’Neal and his uncle and business manager Mike Parris began investing in real estate about four years ago in New Jersey, where O’Neal lived in the projects before his father joined the Army.

“We started buying homes out of foreclosure and paying $10,000 or $12,000 for them, fixing them up, and maybe selling them for $25,000 or $35,000,� O’Neal said.

“It would be easy for me to develop a housing community around a golf course or buy strip malls, but that’s not how I want my book to go.�

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Center DeSagana Diop, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ first-round draft pick last year, had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. He is expected to be ready for training camp.