NBA Amnesty Clause Candidates

Illinois

(What?! Release me?! Whatever happened to Peace at any price?!)

One unique and intriguing feature of the new NBA collective bargaining agreement is the “amnesty clause”.  It allows every team to waive one player from its roster and subsequently remove his salary from their salary cap total.  While the player’s salary really doesn’t disappear – the team still has to pay it (assuming it is a guaranteed contract) – it does allow them to remove a bad contract from their salary cap total and potentially keep the team from paying the dreaded luxury tax or, if they are already under the salary cap total, sign another player.  

While only a few teams are expected to take advantage of the rule this season (each team is only allowed to use it once over the lifetime of the CBA, so many will be saving it for a rainy day), here are the best amnesty clause candidates for each team (some of them pretty far fetched):

(all salaries listed in millions, first number listed is 2011/12 salary, next number is total salary still owing).

Atlanta Hawks

Marvin Williams: $7.5, $15.7

Boston Celtics

Jermaine O’Neal: $6.2, $6.2

Charlotte Bobcats

Corey Maggette: $10.2, $21.1

Chicago Bulls

Kyle Korver: $5.0, $10.0

Cleveland Cavaliers

Baron Davis: $14.0, $28.8

Dallas Mavericks

Corey Brewer: $3.1, $6.3

Denver Nuggets

Al Harrington: $6.2, $12.9

Detroit Pistons

Ben Gordon: $11.6, $37.2

Golden State Warriors

Andris Biedrins: $9.0, $18.0

Houston Rockets

Hasheem Thabeet: $5.1, $5.1

Indiana Pacers

No one

Los Angeles Clippers

Ryan Gomes: $4.0, $8.0

Los Angeles Lakers

Metta World Peace (Ron Artest): $6.8, $14.1

Memphis Grizzlies

No one

Miami Heat

Mike Miller: $5.4, $17.4

Milwaukee Bucks

Drew Gooden: $6.2, $20.5

Minnesota Timberwolves

Darko Milicic: $4.8, $10.0

New Jersey Nets

Travis Outlaw: $7.0, $28.0

New Orleans Hornets

Trevor Ariza: $6.8, $14.1

New York Knicks

No one

Oklahoma City Thunder

Thabo Sefolosha: $3.6, $11.6

Orlando Magic

Gilbert Arenas: $19.3, $62.5

Philadelphia 76ers

Elton Brand: $17.1, $37.1

Phoenix Suns

Josh Childress: $6.0, $19.7

Portland Trailblazers

Brandon Roy: $15.0, $49.4

Sacramento Kings

Francisco Garcia: $5.8, $18.3

San Antonio Spurs

Richard Jefferson: $9.3, $19.5

Toronto Raptors

Jose Calderon: $9.8, $20.4

Utah Jazz

Mehmet Okur: $10.9, $10.9

 

Arrow to top