Boris Diaw is in the last year of his contract, but it looks like he could change teams before the summer. According to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer, Diaw has asked the Bobcats about buying out his contract.
"Boris and I had a meeting prior to the All-Star break, maybe Wednesday before. We talked about quite a few things," Bobcats president of basketball operations Rod Higgins said. "The issue with the buyout, it was raised on their side, from [agent] Doug [Neustadt]. We haven't gone down that road any further."
Although Diaw's minutes and scoring are down for the Bobcats this season, he's still contributing in a variety of ways, averaging 5.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists to go along with his 7.7 points per game. However, reports have suggested the 29-year-old has clashed with coach Paul Silas, who would like to see Diaw shoot more often. Considering Diaw has a career-low .414 FG% and has just as many field goal attempts per 36 minutes as in his last two years with the Bobcats, I could understand if he was reluctant to hoist up more shots.
Since the Bobcats would like to maintain cap flexibility going forward, it may be challenging to find a taker for Diaw's $9MM without taking on salary themselves. Still, Higgins says he'll explore all trade possibilities before considering a buyout for the former first-round pick.
"No question," Higgins confirmed. "Those [buyout] conversations, if they happen, would happen after the deadline."