Olowokandi’s Agent Issues Ultimatum

The agent for Clipper center Michael Olowokandi has set a Wednesday deadline for the team to sign his client to a long-term contract extension worth more than $80 million. If the two sides can’t reach an agreement by then, Olowokandi will accept his one-season qualifying offer and look to sign elsewhere when he becomes an unrestricted free agent next summer.

“I don’t want this to go into training camp unsettled,” Bill Duffy, Olowokandi’s agent, said Friday. “I would like to see a resolution by Wednesday.”

When asked if that meant Olowokandi would not re-sign with the Clippers next summer if a new contract wasn’t reached Wednesday, Duffy said, “Never say never. Obviously, it’s Michael’s decision.”

Said Olowokandi: “I don’t want it to seem unfair by holding the Clippers to Wednesday, but they had all summer to get the deal done.

The Clippers declined to comment.

NBA teams have until Oct. 31 to re-sign players eligible for long-term extensions.

Olowokandi, forwards Elton Brand, Corey Maggette and Lamar Odom and point guard Andre Miller are eligible for such extensions. The team is focused on re-signing only Olowokandi and Brand before Oct. 31, however. Talks with Brand’s agent, David Falk, continue.

Olowokandi averaged career bests of 11.1 points and 8.9 rebounds last season. “He’s not upset,” Duffy said of Olowokandi. “He was more emphatic” that a contract be signed by Wednesday.

Duffy said talks have progressed to the point that a deal could soon be struck, but he also said Clipper owner Donald Sterling must give the final OK.

“My take on it is that across the entire organization there is a desire and a willingness to sign Michael,” Duffy said. “You can’t hold [General Manager] Elgin Baylor and [Clipper vice president] Andy Roeser accountable. It comes down to one individual. Mr. Sterling has expressed a desire to keep this team together and to pay his players fairly.... There’s only one individual who can dictate everything.”

There would be a lengthy list of potential suitors if Olowokandi were to rule out re-signing with the Clippers next summer, starting perhaps with the New York Knicks, who have coveted a 7-foot center since trading Patrick Ewing to the Seattle SuperSonics more than two years ago.

“I think in the next few years the top three centers in the league will be Shaq [O’Neal], Michael and Yao Ming,” Duffy said. “I don’t see any Michael Olowokandis coming along around the globe. I don’t know who you would draft to replace Michael Olowokandi.”

Part of what makes Olowokandi so valuable is his rapid progress last season. To outsiders, he had been something of a disappointment in his first few seasons, playing without much passion after being selected first overall in the 1998 draft.

The Clippers’ patience paid off, with the help of intensive tutoring from assistant coach Igor Kokoskov and the addition of Brand in a trade last summer. Olowokandi, who played in only 77 organized basketball games by Duffy’s tally before being drafted from Pacific, emerged as a force in the middle of last season.

“The Clippers have done a good job of coaching him,” Duffy said. “He’s responded well. If you were to conduct the 1998 draft again, arguably the only player you would take ahead of Michael is Dirk Nowitzki [of the Dallas Mavericks].”