The picture to the right has the "UC" in "UCLA" obscured, but it seemed appropriate.

Baron Davis will be a Clipper. He's reported to have verbally agreed to a five-year 65 million dollar deal with Los Angeles, a team that has no doubt renounced Corey Maggette's rights, which allows Baron to play in the town that he grew up in.

All my thoughts on the potential deal from early this morning still stand, but I do have to give Davis this: Baron is taking less money to play in a situation that he feels comfortable in. That's not typical.

Whether it's the Clipper coaching staff, the location of the franchise, his proximity to the movie business that he's thrown so much money at over the last few years, or his relationship with fellow class if 1999 draftee Elton Brand, Davis is choosing a contented run over a guaranteed 17.8 million dollar payday next year. That's significant. It's also not saying much about the Golden State Warriors.

Make no mistake, the man is still going to be compensated quite handsomely to say the least, and if winning was his most important cup of tea he could have moved on to Boston or the Lakers or any other team for the mid-level exception, but he's still leaving money on the table to play where he wants to play, and that's a rare thing in this league.

*Speaking of which, less than 24 hours after declining to opt out of his contract, Kings forward Ron Artest has developed some cold feet. Artest told Marc Stein via email that, he thinks he "made the biggest mistake by staying in my contract and I have to live with it. I had some misleading information [in making the] decision on not opting out."

I can't blame the guy for getting a little nervy watching players like Gilbert Arenas and Baron Davis take to giant new contracts, but really, who out there was going to have the means or the willingness to give Artest a raise beyond the 7.4 million he's going to make in 2008-09? Chill, Ron. Chill.

*Chris Paul has agreed to a max contract extension with the New Orleans Hornets. That's a giant deal I can get behind