Chris Kaman's signing of a five-year contract extension with the Clippers for a fair market value, is a good indicator for  Shaun Livingston.  He will be eligible to sign an extension next year.

There had been concern that the Clippers would not be able to sign Kaman and Livingston to extensions without going over the salary-cap threshold, a situation Donald Sterling very much wants to avoid.

According to a source with knowledge of the negotiations, Chris Kaman has signed a five-year extension with the Clippers, worth $52.5 million.

The deal, according to Ric Bucher, was agreed to and signed late Friday night. It takes effect for the 2007-08 season and includes incentive clauses that could bring it to $55 million.

A formal announcement is expected to occur on Sunday.

When Sam Cassell was a free agent, he was pursued by George Karl, who coached him in Milwaukee from 1998-2003.

"I did give (signing with Denver) a lot of consideration," Cassell said. "(Karl is) one of the coaches that's going to give me the opportunity to become a head coach. That's my dream."

Cassell said the Nuggets offered him a three-year, $11 million deal.

But Atlanta then entered the bidding and raised the stakes, and he eventually re-signed with the Clippers for $13 million over three years.

"We were in the game early," Karl said. "We had a limit to where we could go."

On Friday, the Clippers said that they will not exercise the third-year option in the contract of former first-round draft pick Yaroslav Korolev, making him an unrestricted free agent after the season.

General Manager Elgin Baylor, Coach Mike Dunleavy and Andy Roeser, executive vice president, decided not to pay the 19-year-old Russian $2.7 million in the 2007-08 season. The club will instead attempt to re-sign him at a lower price.

It appears as though Chris Kaman will sign the five-year $50 million contract extension that the Clippers have on the table for him, if he feels confident that Mike Dunleavy will also receive an extension as coach.

Kaman credits Dunleavy and assistant coach Kim Hughes for his development as a center.

The Los Angeles Clippers today waived Lamond Murray, Ryan Humphrey, Dawan Robinson and Jawad Williams, it was announced by Vice President of Basketball Operations Elgin Baylor.

Signed by the Clippers as a free agent on Oct. 10, the 11-year NBA veteran Murray averaged 4.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in four preseason games. Murray was originally drafted by the Clippers with the seventh overall selection of the 1994 NBA Draft.

Humphrey, Robinson and Williams all signed with the Clippers as free agents on Sept. 29. Humphrey appeared in five preseason games and averaged 2.3 points and 1.0 rebounds for the Clippers, while Robinson, a rookie out of Rhode Island, averaged 4.3 points and 1.7 assists in three preseason games. A former University of North Carolina forward, Williams played in four preseason games with the Clippers, starting one and averaging 5.8 points and 1.0 rebounds a game.

The Clippers roster now stands at 14 players.

Chris Kaman is still considering the Clippers' five-year $50 million contract offer.

This is the first time owner Donald Sterling has made a proactive contract offer to a potential restricted free agent.  In the past, he has allowed the market to dictate itself before signing a player.

"I don't know why (a proactive contract offer) didn't happen in the past," Dunleavy said. "But I think it's the prudent thing to have happen, and I'm glad everybody here sees it that way."

Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy indicated on Wednesday night that he will start the season without a contract extension and he is fine with that.

The coach is in the final season of a four-year, $10 million contract and last season, led the Clippers to their best record in team history and helped them to within one game of the Western Conference finals. The Clippers could negotiate with the coach and his agent throughout the season, so an extension could happen later.

"Everything, as far as I'm concerned with the organization, is great," Dunleavy said. "We're in a good place, no issues. We haven't really got to my situation, but I'm hoping that when we do, it's something that's done fairly easily. We'll see. I don't know."

If negotiations don't go how he wants, he says he won't let it affect his team.

"If I don't think it's like that, I don't want it to be a distraction to the team," he said. "So I'll just say we'll just wait to the end of the year and see how it goes."

Unless the Clippers and Coach Mike Dunleavy can agree on the terms of a contract extension, the Clippers will lose the coach who led the team to the conference playoff finals for the first time in franchise history and a team-record 47 regular-season victories.

But although Dunleavy's asking price will be somewhere in the neighborhood of a five-year, $30 million deal, he wants a few other matters settled before he will agree to a new contract.

First, he has said wants to make sure third-year center Chris Kaman is signed to a contract extension. The club has made a move in that direction by offering Kaman a five-year, $50 million deal that he is weighing.

Second, Dunleavy wants to be assured that the Clippers' long-proposed private practice facility will become a reality. Team officials met Thursday with the project's architects to go over final plans.

Finally, Dunleavy wants to know that Elgin Baylor, the vice president of basketball operations, will remain in his position.

Chris Kaman's contract situation and the fact that the offer was made by Mike Dunleavy, highlights the power and influence the head coach has within the Clippers' front office.

"It's not about me, it's really about everything we try to do to put the organization in the best position possible," Dunleavy said Tuesday night.

"We're all on the same page, and we're trying to do everything we can to get to where we want to be. It's a great statement about where we are as group."

"Mike and I work to reach agreements on everything we do," Elgin Baylor said. "If there's something we decide not to do, we agree on that too. Mike likes to be involved in decisions on players and things like that, and that's fine with me."

Dunleavy isn't signed beyond this season and his contract status is in a holding pattern until the Kaman situation is resolved.  He currently makes approximately $2.5 million per season, but is in line for a raise in the $4 million range.