Metta World Peace was officially amnestied by the Lakers on Thursday, and remains on amnesty waivers, rather than regular waivers–instead of claiming his entire salary, teams can now place partial bids for his services, with the highest bid winning out. Here's the full explanation of the amnesty provision, and this year's amnesty primer.
Doug Davis, one of a pair of agents for the former Ron Artest, suggested that his client's assertion that he may leave the NBA should be taken with a grain of salt, notes Marc Berman of the New York Post. World Peace doesn't want to uproot his family, so the Clippers appear to be his first choice among NBA teams, but Knicks coach Mike Woodson said the team is "on alert" in case World Peace clears amnesty waivers.
"There’s a number of definitely positive things about New York," Davis said. "Hopefully we’ll have the opportunity to assess them [Sunday] after he clears waivers. It’s a very tense time, this 48-hour period. We want him to be in control of his own destiny."
Here's what else is happening around the Pacific Division on this Saturday in the midst of amnesty week:
- The Clippers continue to eye free agent big men Lamar Odom and Antawn Jamison, but sources tell Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports that the team is taking it slow as it determines the best fit (Twitter link).
- Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times examines whether the Lakers should attempt to avoid paying the luxury tax this season.
- The Kings have renounced their rights to Toney Douglas, who already has an agreement in place with the Warriors, according to the RealGM transactions log. The Kings also renounced their rights to Cole Aldrich.
- And the Kings officially announced in a press release that rookie Ben McLemore had been signed: "The Sacramento Kings today signed first-round draft pick Ben McLemore to a contract, according to Kings General Manager Pete D’Alessandro. Sacramento selected McLemore with the seventh-overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. Per team policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed."
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.