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After 21 seasons, Elgin Baylor is finished with the Clippers.

AP

LOS ANGELES – It should come as no surprise that Elgin Baylor's tenure as the Clippers' vice president of basketball operations came to an end Tuesday. If you go by sheer numbers he probably should have been fired or had the decency to step down years ago.

But that's exactly what makes Baylor's departure so surprising. It wasn't so much that Baylor was the worst general manager in the NBA, but that he held that distinction for the past 21 years. No one in the history of sports has had more job security than Baylor regardless of the results on the field of play. Detroit Lions fans may have been clamoring for the firing of Matt Millen for the past six years, but imagine if he had kept his job for over two decades. After a certain point you simply become resigned to the fact that the guy will keep the job as long as he wants it.

Since Mike Dunleavy was hired as the Clippers' coach in 2003, however, most within the league have known that Baylor's role with the Clippers diminished as quickly as that of Milton in Office Space. He didn't have the final say on personnel matters anymore, rarely spoke to the media (not that he really did before) and basically took in games next to press row with his wife and daughter as he threw back handfuls of popcorn, famously nodding off during one game on camera last year.

Baylor hadn't even been around the team since training camp started and Dunleavy admits he hadn't seen or spoken to Baylor in over a month. It was Dunleavy who led the way in acquiring Baron Davis and texting with Elton Brand in hopes of keeping him with the team. Agents and front office officials knew if they wanted to do anything with the Clippers they went through Dunleavy.

On Tuesday, the Clippers basically "fixed the glitch" instead of carrying on the masquerade, asking Baylor to take on the role of a consultant or ambassador and officially relinquish his role as the vice president of basketball operations. Baylor, 74, refused and resigned, later saying, "There's a dispute and I've been advised by my attorneys not to discuss it."

Whatever the "dispute" may be, there is no disputing Baylor's record while he was in charge of the Clippers. The team went 619-1,153 for a dismal .349 winning percentage over the past 21 seasons, not to mention drafting such studs as Michael Olowokandi, Brian Skinner and Terry Dehere in the first round.

Baylor will always be remembered as one of the greatest NBA players of all-time -- "pound for pound, no one was ever as great as Elgin Baylor," Tommy Hawkins once said -- but his greatest accomplishment may have been keeping his job with the Clippers for over two decades. It's one thing to stay employed when you're successful, but it takes someone special to keep getting paid for being nothing more than a glorified figurehead of the worst team in professional sports.