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Los Angeles Clippers star Chris Paul is planning to stay in town a while ... 'cause he's about to drop $8.5 MILLION on a sick Bel Air mansion that he's buying from Avril Lavigne ... TMZ has learned.

Sources tell us ... Paul fell in love with the 12,184 square foot place, which Avril originally listed for $9.5 mil and decided he had to make a move.


The mansion -- located in a hoity-toity private community called Bel Air Crest -- includes 8 bedrooms and 10.5 bathrooms, a wine cellar, 10-car garage, gym, sauna and a covered outdoor living room.

We're told the real estate agent who engineered the deal is Jade Mills from Coldwell Banker in Beverly Hills.

Before Avril moved in ... Travis Barker lived in the place with his ex Shanna Moakler ... and it was even featured on their MTV reality show "Meet the Barkers."

As for Paul, dude is in year 3 of a 4-year $68,000,000 contract ... so, he can afford it.

TMZ

Saw someone re-tweet this on Twitter. Paul said that he plans to be here and this is a nice way to show it.

Well he went all in only thing left now is to make sure the Lakers don't take him away we are in the gold so far.

TheNewEra wrote:Well he went all in only thing left now is to make sure the Lakers don't take him away we are in the gold so far.

LOL, either way he's in LA... that's the sad part, we don't know if he's going to stay a clip or join the ugly people in purple.

CP3 seems to be invested in the CLIPPERS, if the Clips continue to get better & management doesn't regress to old ways, we should be good.
CP3 looks good in a Clipper Uni & he has fit right in.

CP3 really did go all out by buying a mansion in Bel Air. He will definitely stay in LA and I really hope he stays with us.

Congrats to him - Bel Air is an awesome place to live. I have a feeling he's loving this great L.A. weather - We all are, to be honest.

Not 100% sure, but I think this is the house:

http://www.luxist.com/2006/06/20/meet-t ... -for-sale/

More pics:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... -9-5m.html

Definitely promising to see him settling down in the area.

Good sign that Paul stays put in LA.

azncorruptedo17 wrote:LOL, either way he's in LA... that's the sad part, we don't know if he's going to stay a clip or join the ugly people in purple.

Their salary situation makes it very unlikely that they would be able to sign Paul or any other Max Free-Agent any time soon. Even if they let Bynum expire after the 2012-13 season, amnestied Gasol and added no other long-term salary between now and then, it's still unlikely due to Kobe making $30M+. Kobe would have to be traded for expirings or amnestied for the Lakers to be players for a signing a Max FA, because we definitely wouldn't trade him to them.

^^^ that is very comforting info

Exciting news! Looks like we will have him for the rest of his career.

mkwest wrote:

azncorruptedo17 wrote:LOL, either way he's in LA... that's the sad part, we don't know if he's going to stay a clip or join the ugly people in purple.

Their salary situation makes it very unlikely that they would be able to sign Paul or any other Max Free-Agent any time soon. Even if they let Bynum expire after the 2012-13 season, amnestied Gasol and added no other long-term salary between now and then, it's still unlikely due to Kobe making $30M+. Kobe would have to be traded for expirings or amnestied for the Lakers to be players for a signing a Max FA, because we definitely wouldn't trade him to them.

You can always clear cap space, it's not that hard. We did it in 96 when going in for Shaq. Clearing about 15-18 mil is nothing.

DEEP3CL wrote:You can always clear cap space, it's not that hard. We did it in 96 when going in for Shaq. Clearing about 15-18 mil is nothing.

A 35 year old Kobe will make $30.45M during the 2013-14 season. Let's say that the salary cap is set at $63M for that season. You must have a minimum of 12 players under contract or you will be assessed a roster charge. The roster charge has been equivalent to $473,604 for the past 2 seasons. It may increase over the next 2 years. If you were able to free yourself of all salary outside of Kobe, the Lakers' payroll would be at $35.7-36M. This would leave $27M in salary room. A 28 year old Paul would be looking for a max salary, which would be 30% of the cap or $18.9M. That would leave the Lakers with $8.1M in salary space to add a supporting cast after signing Paul. That would be your best case scenario if Kobe fits into the plans.

The Lakers would have had to let Bynum walk with nothing in return at the end of next season, Trade/Amnesty Gasol ($19.3M in 2013), Artest ($7.7M) and potentially Blake ($4M) and Goudelock ($1.1M qualifying offer) in a salary dump. This is more like clearing $48M worth of salary instead of 15-18. Blake shouldn't be too hard to move and Goudelock's option could simply be declined or waived since he unguaranteed. Getting rid of Artest's contract would be a different story unless he was packaged with an increased incentive to receiving team.

If they were to use the amnesty on Kobe, then that could make their work a lot easier. However, I seriously doubt that the organization would make that move.

It's a possibility for the Lakers to be in position to sign a Max Free-Agent then, but a very unlikely one. They would be in a better position the following year where there are currently no players under contract.