The new Amnesty Clause in the NBA labor agreement update claimed it’s first ever victim today. Gilbert Arenas of the Orlando Magic. Yes, “Hibachi,” “Agent 0,” or as I call him “shooty mcshootington” or “gunsy mcgunsington” walks away from the Magic with a cool $60+ million; without having to do a thing.
The Magic get to take his albatross of a contract off their salary cap hit. Now, with the new rule in place teams under the cap will be able to bid on him. If there are no bids, he simply becomes an unrestricted free agent.
If Arenas is not picked up, the Magic owe him $62.4 million. If he signs as a free agent, he keeps all his Magic money and gets whatever the new team is willing to pay him. And the Magic will have to pay Arenas the difference between the winning bid for him and his $62.4 million guarantee.
I can’t imagine there is going to be a huge market for Agent Zero’s services and he will likely have to take the league minimum from somebody.
The Detroit Pistons waived Rip Hamilton today. It was thought the Piston used the amnesty clause, but they did not. It was a simple contract buyout, and this gives Hamilton more freedom in choosing his next team. Expect a title contender to land Hamilton with part or all of their mid-level exception as he can still bring some scoring punch to a line-up.
The Chicago Bulls are pretty quiet right now on the transaction front, but lots of chatter on them trying to possibly Hamilton. The Bulls are looking for a ball-handler/scorer, and desperately need an upgrade at the two. Expect the Boston Celtics to maybe make a move on Hamilton too.
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