10:30pm: Kirilenko may play in Europe if he clears waivers, which is expected, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.
4:16pm:The Sixers have waived forward Andrei Kirilenko, the team has announced (Twitter link). It’s unclear if a buyout arrangement was reached or if the team simply waived the Russian outright. The veteran hasn’t played since November 13th and had been suspended by Philadelphia after he failed to report to the team after it had acquired him in a trade with the Nets on December 11th. Kirilenko had been away from the team tending to a medical issue involving his wife’s pregnancy, which was resolved last week when she gave birth to a baby boy.
Philadelphia’s GM Sam Hinkie had informed Kirilenko at the time of the trade that the team didn’t intend to waive him. Rumors before the trade had indicated that the Sixers were poised to release Kirilenko shortly after they obtained him, but instead Philadelphia held onto Kirilenko with the hope that he could be used as a trade chip, though no deal ever materialized. Releasing Kirilenko frees up a roster spot for the Sixers, who are now carrying 14 players.
In 12 NBA seasons, Kirilenko has averaged 11.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.7 assists. His career slash line is .474/.310/.754. He appeared in just seven games for Brooklyn this season, logging just 0.4 points in 5.1 minutes per contest.
why bother? as long as he’s suspended, he’s not getting paid. now they’ll have to pay him the rest of his salary, right?