It’s only $7 million, and it’s only for a year. And they already had been stiffed by Tyson Chandler and lost out on DeAndre Jordan. And in the NBA someone has to be listed at center, so the Golden State Warriors signed Kwame Brown.

The Warriors, indeed, had a center, Andris Biedrins. Been with them the past few years while he attempted not to foul out and to make free throws, rarely succeeding in either category.

What to do? Connect with Brown, which of course, many people involved in the sport, would tell them not to do.

But that’s because they watched Brown underachieve, heard how one-time teammate Kobe Bryant told a college class Brown could drive the Lakers crazy, read stories speculating whether Brown was Michael Jordan’s biggest draft bust.

Originally, that was some endorsement, anointed in 2001 by His Airness, then an exec with the Washington Wizards, as the only high school player ever taken with the first pick in the draft.

A 7-footer with potential. Unfortunately, also with small hands. And no understanding. And susceptible to injury.

Washington traded him to the Lakers, who traded him to Memphis, which let him so. Detroit signed him and after two years also let him go. Charlotte – where Jordan had moved – signed him, and also let him go. Now, the Warriors, his seventh team overall and fifth in six seasons, join the chorus line.

Or is that the slapstick routine?

Brown’s had his moments, which one would hope for someone playing 11 seasons, even if he hasn’t reached age 30. His third year, Kwame had a 30-point, 19-rebound game against the Sacramento Kings. But success was infrequent. Criticism was constant.

A couple of years later with the Lakers, he had a home game in which he missed an open dunk and had more turnovers, seven, than rebounds, six. He was booed by the L.A. fans, unhappy he wasn’t Kareem or Wilt or even Vlade Divac.

Talk about spoil sports. They took the cake. Kwame merely ruined a very expensive one.

It was one of those late-night affairs in 2007 in Hermosa Beach after a Lakers game, a birthday celebration for Ronny Turiaf, with a $190 cake. You think they’re going to settle for Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines? Before anyone knew it Brown hurled the cake at 5-foot-9 Alexander Martinez, who coincidentally happened to be celebrating his birthday at the same locality.

“It was a misunderstanding,’’ a Lakers public relations man told the Los Angeles Times. It was waste of food, but at least the L.A. County district attorney declined to file charges. For what? Cake destruction?

Brown’s greater sin, excluding his on-court misplays, was franchise destruction. He psyched out his teammates. The Lakers team chemistry couldn’t be found under a microscope.

Huffington Post reported Kobe Bryant addressed a psychology class at UC Santa Barbara and in responding to a question about pressure on a star, recalled a game against Detroit. The Pistons, knowing well Bryant was the Lakers' offense, confronted him with a box-and-one defense.

“I’m surrounded by these players, Detroit players, and Kwame is under the basket, all by himself,’’ said Bryant. “Literally, like all by himself. So I pass him the ball, he bobbled it and it goes out of bounds. So we go back to the timeout and I’m upset, right? He goes, ‘I was wide open.’ ‘Yeah, I know.’

“This is how I’m talking to him, like, during the game. I said, ‘You’re going to be open again, Kwame, because Rasheed (Wallace) is just totally ignoring you.’ He said, ‘Well, if I’m open don’t throw it to me.’ I was like, ‘Huh?’ He said, ‘Don’t throw it to me.’ I said, ‘Why not?’ He said, well, ‘I’m nervous. If I catch it and they foul me, I won’t make the free throws.’ I said, ‘Hell, no.’ “

This past February, Brown played decently against the Lakers in Charlotte, with eight points and eight rebounds, and the Bobcats won. Maybe that’s the newer Kwame. He’ll never be a superstar but he could be a factor.

“It wasn’t his fault,’’ Brown’s agent Mark Bartelstein explained of his client’s failings. “He was drafted first. He wasn’t ready for the NBA. He was too young. There was too much pressure, and he got thrown into the bonfire with Michael Jordan and (former Wizards coach) Doug Collins.”  

Bartelstein said joining the Bobcats and rejoining Jordan for the 2010-2011 season, when Brown started 50 games and averaged 7.9 points and 6.8 boards, was therapeutic.

“Going to Charlotte,’’ the agent insisted, “playing for Michael Jordan, helped exorcise those demons from the years they had together in Washington. It was great for Kwame.’’

The $7 million question is whether signing Brown will be great for Golden State.