(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
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