The Lakers are set to use the amnesty clause on the contract of Metta World Peace barring some late change, according to Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register (on Twitter). The forward's contract calls for him to make about $7.73MM in 2013/14.
Even without Dwight Howard in the picture, the Lakers are well into luxury tax territory and cutting MWP loose with the amnesty provision will save them about $21.5MM in total. Peace, of course, has a reputation as a tenacious defender but his performance has been in decline as of late and he's certainly not worth the cost for a club that doesn't figure to contend in 2013/14.
Using the clause on MWP means that the Lakers will eliminate his cap hit from the books while still paying him his full salary. For a refresher on the amnesty clause, check out the full explanation in the Hoops Rumors glossary.
he will be miss, but he not wroth 7 mill. he nice for defense, but he doesnt shoot like mike d likes. since he was 40% from the field and .34% from 3
If it was just the 7 million salary they’d probably keep him and let his contract expire after the year, they amnestied him to avoid the 20 million it will cost with the luxury tax.
well this team just keeps getting worse and worse.
if you want good defense he will be miss, but we wont miss his shooting
you mean GREAT D. and did you watch the last few weeks of the regular season? The guy was nails on both sides of the ball.
He doesn’t play GREAT D all season anymore. He’s lost a lot of the athleticism he once had, he still has good technique and great hands but his overall defense has slipped. Especially when he’s at the 3 he just isn’t the player he once was and on offense he’s mostly awful.
Zach, do you think he gets claimed on waivers? Also, which teams are actually under cap and could put in a bid?
Depending on what other moves are made by the time he’s officially waived, there could be 5-10 teams with cap space. Many of those are non-contenders that wouldn’t bother claiming him though (Orlando, Philadelphia, etc.).
Three teams that stand out to me are Cleveland, Detroit, and Dallas. The Cavs and Pistons could use a veteran small forward, and the Mavs are typically opportunistic on amnesty waivers. I think whether or not those teams make a claim will be determined by whether or not MWP’s camp indicates he’d actually be willing to report and play for any of them.
— Luke