It looks like the Clippers will not be on the move after all.

According to ESPN the team announced Thursday it has agreed to terms of a 10-year lease with the Anschutz Entertainment Group, owners and operators of the Staples Center.  The original lease had been scheduled to expire at the end of the upcoming season.

"We are very pleased to announce this agreement and to be able to ensure that our fans will enjoy the long-term comfort and stability that goes along with making Staples Center our home," Clippers executive vice president Andy Roeser said in a statement.

The agreement goes into effect immediately, the Clippers said. No other terms were announced.

"Our goal has always been to operate the world's most important and certainly most busy arena and this long-term agreement from our partners will certainly ensure this," AEG president and CEO Tim Leiweke said.

Several weeks ago Staples Center officials made it seem as though they were unsure whether hosting 41 Clippers games per year was worth it, but now a long-term lease between the two sides is imminent.

"We would like the Clippers to stay and ? I think we're going to work this out," Tim Leiweke, president of Anschutz Entertainment Group, told radio station XTRA. "I think we'll have something in the next week, at the very latest.

"And it will be a long-term deal."

Leiweke was previously quoted as telling the newspaper, "We actually would make more money if, instead of 40 Clippers games, we had five concerts. So, those are some of the decisions we're going to have to make. The Clippers' issue is in negotiations now. Their lease is up after this year.

"And ironically, shockingly, we've got to make a decision as to whether we even want them back. We're not sure."

The Clippers moved from the Sports Arena before the 1999-2000 season, signing a six-year lease with Staples Center, which opened five years ago this month.

At the same time, the Lakers and NHL's Kings signed 20-year leases with Staples Center.

With the comments made by Tim Leiweke, president of Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns and operates Staples Center, it appears very likely that the L.A. Clippers will move to the Pond in Anaheim following this season.

Leiweke stated that the Staples Center makes more from about five concerts than it does over the course of a 41 home-game schedule of the Clippers.

The lease that Donald Sterling holds with the Staples Center runs out after this season, and it is likely that the operators of the Pond would give the Clippers a favorable deal to move down the 5 to Anaheim, particularly with the uncertain status of the Mighty Ducks of the NHL.

The lease that the Clippers signed with the Staples Center will be up at season's end and it is no sure thing that they will be back in 2005.

Tim Leiweke, president and CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns Staples Center and the Kings hockey team, told Downtown News on Monday that AEG is contemplating whether it wants to extend the Clippers' lease.

"We actually would make more money if instead of having 40 Clippers games we had five concerts," Leiweke told Downtown News. "The Clippers' issue is in negotiations now. Their lease is up after this year and ironically, shockingly, we've got to make a decision as to whether we even want them back. We're not sure."

Southern California has many arena alternatives, including the Pond in Anaheim and the L.A. Sports Arena, the old home of the Clippers.

Marko Jaric will be the L.A. Clippers starting point guard when the season begins, but it is unclear if they have long term plans for him.

They drafed Shaun Livingston, a straight from high school point guard with more talent than muscle at this stage of his career.  He is likely three years away from becoming what they expect him to be, and in the meantime, Jaric should be an effective stand in.

"I am the point guard of this team, and I am doing everything to raise this team to a higher level," Jaric said. "Of course, I want to stay here. It would be stupid for me to try so hard to get this team to a higher level while thinking of someplace else. I believe in this team, and I want to be a part of this organization."

"When I look at Marko Jaric, I look at a guy that I think is a terrific combo guard, a guy that can play point guard and off guard on a very high-level team," coach Mike Dunleavy said. "Whether he can make the improvements to be a lead point guard on a championship team, I don't know. That's a part of what he went through this summer."

Jaric will be a restricted free-agent at season's end and the Clipper are notorious for not re-signing their personnel.

The Clippers picked up the 2005-06 contract option on forward Chris Wilcox today.

Wilcox was selected eighth overall out of Maryland in 2002.

His career averages are 6.6 points per game and 3.7 rebounds per game.

'The Clippers on Monday also signed guard Trajan Langdon, a former first-round pick, and forward Kaniel Dickens.'