Mavericks Officially Amnesty Haywood

4:11pm: Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com tweets that the team has officially amnestied Haywood. 

THURSDAY, 1:14pm: The Mavericks have notified the league office that they're releasing Haywood using the amnesty clause, tweets ESPN.com's Marc Stein.

WEDNESDAY, 6:02pm: The Mavericks have decided to use the amnesty clause on Brendan Haywood, according to Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. The move clears about $37.7MM off the Mavs' salary cap over the next four seasons. Haywood was due to make $8.349MM next year, but the Mavs will pay roughly that same amount to Chris Kaman, who'll presumably take over as the team's starting center after agreeing to sign today.

Haywood will go on waivers for a week, during which any team can claim him and pay either a portion or the full amount of his contract, though it's more likely he'll become an unrestricted free agent. Jeff Caplan of ESPNDallas.com tweets that using the amnesty clause on Haywood allows the Mavs to make a play for former Sixers power forward Elton Brand, who is also expected to be let go via amnesty.

The final year of Haywood's deal with the Mavs, worth more than $10.5MM, is fully non-guaranteed, according to Jeff Caplan of ESPNDallas.com, so the Mavs will pay Haywood all but that amount, despite it not counting toward their salary cap (Twitter link).

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