The Los Angeles Clippers retained All-Star forward Elton Brand on Saturday by matching an offer sheet he signed with the Miami Heat earlier this week.

The Clippers did not disclose the terms of Brand's deal, which is believed to be worth $82.2 million over six years. Los Angeles had 15 days to match the offer sheet Brand signed with the Heat on Wednesday.

"I am very pleased that Elton Brand will continue to be an important part of our organization," said Elgin Baylor, the Clippers vice president of basketball operations. "I never doubted the outcome of this process and I couldn't be happier."

Brand, who could have signed a one-year tender and then become an unrestricted free agent next summer, didn't seem fazed that the historically penny-pinching Clippers are going to keep him from going to Miami.

"If they match, I'm going to be excited either way," Brand told the Los Angeles Times by telephone on Friday when the Clippers; plans first came to light. "I'll be ready to go in a new direction with the Clippers, start winning some games and get into the playoffs. If they're going to match, that's saying they're in the direction of trying to get players."