Teams that haven't used their amnesty provision to clear an unwanted salary from their cap won't receive another chance to do so until next July, but it's never too early to preview which players could be on the chopping block.
As our amnesty tracker shows, 15 teams have taken advantage of the rule, clearing a total of more than $350MM from their respective salary cap totals. Since clubs can only amnesty one player over the course of this CBA, that means the other half of the NBA's 30 franchises will still have that opportunity over the next few summers.
You can visit our glossary for a full explanation of the amnesty clause, but the essential information is this: To be an amnesty candidate, a player must have signed his contract under the old CBA, and can't have changed teams since the lockout. So Ben Gordon isn't an amnesty candidate for the Bobcats, since the team acquired him via trade. And Landry Fields can't be amnestied by the Raptors, since he signed his deal under the new CBA.
With all that in mind, here are the remaining amnesty candidates for the 15 teams that still have the clause at their disposal. Outstanding salary (guaranteed or non-guaranteed) left on their deals after 2012/13 is noted in parentheses:
Bulls: Joakim Noah ($36.7MM), Carlos Boozer ($32.1MM), Luol Deng ($14.28MM)
Bobcats: Tyrus Thomas ($18.08MM)
Bucks: Drew Gooden ($13.37MM), Larry Sanders ($3.05MM)
Celtics: Rajon Rondo ($24.86MM), Avery Bradley ($2.51MM)
Grizzlies: Zach Randolph ($34.3MM), Mike Conley ($26.08MM)
Hawks: Al Horford ($36MM)
Heat: LeBron James ($61.77MM), Chris Bosh ($61.77MM), Dwyane Wade ($60.49MM), Mike Miller ($12.8MM), Udonis Haslem ($8.96MM), Joel Anthony ($7.6MM)
Jazz: Derrick Favors ($6.01MM), Gordon Hayward ($3.45MM)
Kings: John Salmons ($14.58MM), DeMarcus Cousins ($4.92MM)
Lakers: Kobe Bryant ($30.45MM), Pau Gasol ($19.29MM), Metta World Peace ($7.73MM), Steve Blake ($4MM)
Pelicans: No players eligible
Pistons: Charlie Villanueva ($8.58MM), Greg Monroe ($4.09MM)
Raptors: Andrea Bargnani ($22.25MM), Amir Johnson ($13.6MM), Linas Kleiza ($4.6MM)
Spurs: Tony Parker ($25MM), Matt Bonner ($3.95MM)
Thunder: Kevin Durant ($56.99MM), Kendrick Perkins ($18.63MM), Nick Collison ($4.83MM), Thabo Sefolosha ($3.9MM)
Additional notes on this list:
- Because the Pelicans have no players on their roster eligible to be amnestied, there are essentially only 14 teams left that can use the provision.
- Many of the players on this list have team options for 2013/14. That makes them unlikely to be real amnesty candidates, barring a drastic injury or decline in production between the option decision and the 2013 amnesty period. If a team wants to get rid of one of these players, it could just decline his option.
- World Peace, Villanueva, and Kleiza all have player options for next season. So if any of them end up being amnestied, it will happen just a couple weeks after they've exercised their options to remain with their respective teams.
Great resource! Thanks for the knowledge
this is interesting stuff – so much juggling to be done with salaries it is huge to see just who is unprotected and who to dangle the carrot for on this list. So many over paid players that are really worth 4-8 million maybe.
Nevermind, should have read the article fully before I asked.