And I thought the Clippers were going to return to anonymity for another decade or three. The Lakers keep Kobe Bryant, get Pau Gasol, go to the NBA Finals … and the Clippers (23-59) fall apart.

We’ve seen this before, and it’s always been a lengthy process. Lakers get cranked up, Clippers fade, see you in another decade and another 10 lottery picks.

Then the Clippers went and reached an agreement with Baron Davis to come play point guard for them, for five years at $65 million or so … and now Donald Sterling’s team is relevant again.

Never expected that. Never. This just doesn’t happen in Clipperland.

The Clips also are about to re-sign Elton Brand, a career 20-10 type of guy (before snapping his Achilles last summer). That’s another big, bold good-news headline.

Signing Davis is a bigger deal than signing Brand. Because Davis has star power that Brand just doesn’t have. Brand is one of the most affable of humans, but I’m not convinced he has sold any tickets in his career. Really. Not to people who want to see him. People may want to see some of the teams he has been on, but they aren’t there for Elton Brand.

Davis, meanwhile, has that “it” thing going on. He may be no more productive than Brand in winning a game, but he seems to be. He has a dynamism that any observer quickly notices and, often, will pay to see. That sort of quality makes a team a commercial success.

Davis’s signing means Corey Maggette, who opted out of his Clips contract, won’t be back, but he never seemed as significant as the numbers he put up. Coach Mike Dunleavy never really liked him, and if you watched Maggette play often enough, you could see why. If there’s such a thing as a “quiet 20-point scorer,” Maggette was him.

So, that gives the Clippers a starting five of (1 through 5) … Baron Davis, Cuttino Mobley, Al Thornton, Elton Brand and Chris Kaman. That’s not bad. Not good enough to win the Western Conference, maybe not even good enough to make the playoffs … but good enough to keep the Clippers from slipping completely off the grid. And a seriously interesting team.

Rookie Erik Gordon should help, and maybe Shaun Livingston can make a comeback and provide depth at the point. And Quinton Ross and Tim Thomas (competent, when he gives a hoot) are still around, too.

Anyway, the Clippers stunned me. I didn’t think they had this in them. I figured maybe they would keep Brand, and then just go under the cap and maybe try something a year from now … after finding out what Livingston had, if anything … and then they go out and get Baron Davis, an actual star who gives them a first-tier point guard for the first time in forever (yes, that includes you, Sam Cassell) …

This smacks of intelligent design. This is so not like the Clippers.

Amazing.