Baker's Dough: $86M -- Fat Contract Comes With Weight Clause

The notion that has consumed him "every minute" of this summer, Vin Baker says, is that he wasn't just coming off a bad season. It was way more than that. He had made a mess too big to walk away from.

Worse than being ridiculed, the Sonics were written off after a season of underachievement for which Baker accepted the blame.

"My being out of shape and unprepared to play really cost us a playoff berth and a position this franchise has proudly held for many years," Baker said. "Even though that was the only terrible year I've ever had, and one of the few terrible years the franchise has had in its history, we've been written off, based on six months.

"That's why I'm really going to enjoy playing here next season. Because of what happened, we're going to appreciate it even more when we're back on top."

Baker, 27, committed himself to the Sonic revival by signing a seven- year contract with the team yesterday. It won't be charity work, as the deal could be worth a league-maximum $86.625 million if a weight clause and several performance incentives are met.

The weight clause especially was a hedge for the Sonics against a repeat of last season, Baker's worst as a pro.

In the lockout-shortened season, the 6-foot-11 power forward reported to training camp about 20 pounds overweight and missed 16 games with thumb and knee injuries. He averaged 13.8 points and 6.2 rebounds, both career lows.

Baker said he now weighs 266 pounds, just off his targeted playing weight of 260.

An NBA All-Star selection his previous four seasons, Baker terminated the remainder of his contract and became a free agent July 1.

Given last season, the length of the contract and the money involved, Sonic President Wally Walker admitted the Sonics were taking a risk. "But it's a risk we had to take, and wanted to take," he said.

Baker was so resolute in his desire for vindication in Seattle that the clear focus of agent Aaron Goodwin's negotiations were with the Sonics. Goodwin refused to comment on other interest his client received, but sources close to Baker and the Sonics said Boston, Detroit, Phoenix and Toronto sent serious signals.

The Raptors were the only team with enough salary-cap space to sign Baker outright, though it would have been for about $20 million less than Seattle offered. The other teams would have been forced to engineer sign-and-trade deals. But it never came close to that.

"The Sonics showed their faith in Vin," Goodwin said. "And Vin wanted to be in Seattle."

Because of salary-cap reasons, signing Baker was the last major move made by the Sonics this summer. Signing him earlier would have swallowed up cap space used to sign free agents Vernon Maxwell, Ruben Patterson and Shammond Williams. The league's collective-bargaining agreement allows teams to exceed the salary cap to sign their own free agents.

Baker's willingness to wait out the Sonics' personnel machinations also was tacit approval of the moves the team made. Those included trades for Horace Grant and Brent Barry. Baker particularly brightened at the pairing of his verbose best friend, Gary Payton, with the motormouthed Maxwell.

"My trash-talking is going to sound like a testimony in church compared to those two," Baker said.

Last night, Baker flew back to Connecticut, where he will finish his camps in his hometown of Old Saybrook and hold a third "retirement" party for his parents, who refuse to retire. Baker also will resume twice-daily workouts with Sonic conditioning coach Dwight Daub.

Baker plans to continue the regimen in Seattle, where he will spend all of September preparing for the start of Sonic training camp Oct. 6.

"Mentally, I'm ready now," Baker said. "I'm more excited about this year than I've ever been. I have a lot of unfinished business. I let a lot of people down. I need to prove myself all over again. I had a taste of winning my first season in Seattle, and I want that feeling back.

"I am preparing my body and preparing myself mentally to coming out and absolutely destroying and dispelling any doubts about me as a player. I feel like I'm 21 again, and was just drafted. That's how excited I am."

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SHOW HIM THE MONEY.

The breakdown of Vin Baker's new Sonic contract:

. Year Salary . 1 $9,000,000 . 2 $10,125,000 . 3 $11,250,000 . 4 $12,375,000 . 5 $13,500,000 . 6 $14,625,000 . 7 $15,750,000 . Total $86,625,000 .