The Jazz decided weeks ago that Corey Maggette is going places in the NBA. Because the Clippers finally realized the same thing, Maggette is going nowhere.

The Clippers exercised their right to match the Jazz's offer to the fourth-year guard on Tuesday, dealing an expected, but still painful, blow to Utah's attempts to rebuild through free agency.

"You say, 'I think the Clippers were smart and signed a terrific player,' and go on," said Kevin O'Connor, the Jazz's vice president of basketball operations. O'Connor signed Maggette to a reported six-year, $42 million contract on July 16, but because he was a restricted free agent, Los Angeles had until Thursday morning to offer the same deal and keep their starting guard.

"We're really glad he will be back for the long term," Clippers vice president Elgin Baylor said in a statement announcing the transaction with Maggette, who averaged 16.8 points in 64 games for L.A. last season. Baylor still has a day to decide whether to match Denver's long-term offer to point guard Andre Miller; the Clippers have already done so with a six-year, $82 million contract for forward Elton Brand.

The Jazz, with $21 million to spend under the salary cap and a dwindling supply of free agents to lavish it on, can only wish they had those sort of decisions to make. Instead, O'Connor is left to negotiate with Hawks point guard Jason Terry -- another restricted free agent whose team has publicly said it would match any offer he receives -- and lesser free-agent talents, or troll league rosters for trade possibilities.

Terry, a 6-2 guard who averaged 17.2 points and 7.4 assists in his fourth season with the Hawks, has received an offer from the Jazz, his agent said Tuesday, though the two sides are not ready to formalize things, and start Atlanta's 15-day clock to match, by signing an offer sheet yet.