MWP is considered a waived player. As with any waived player, any team that can fit his salary within its cap – the new figure is $58.679 million, announced Wednesday – can make a full waiver claim and assume his salary, leaving the Lakers to pay him nothing and making Jim Buss absolutely giddy.
But that’s not happening. What likely will happen is a team (or teams) below the salary cap will make a partial waiver claim, submitting a bid for MWP’s services. The highest bidder wins. Period. And because the Knicks are over the cap, they cannot make a bid.
RELATED: Who has used amnesty? Who hasn’t
Sheridan Hoops has been putting together salary pages for each team that will be posted later this week once we receive exact figures on the signings of the last 10 days. But we can safely project that these nine teams will have significant room under the salary cap:
Atlanta 
Charlotte
Cleveland
Dallas
Detroit
Milwaukee
Philadelphia
Sacramento
Utah
The Knicks’ current payroll, including the acquisition of Andrea Bargnani, the re-signings of J.R. Smith and Pablo Prigioni, and Tim Hardaway Jr.’s rookie contract, is $83.4 million — about $25 million over the cap.
Under the new rules, the lowest bid on a player waived via amnesty has been the $2 million and change the Los Angeles Clippers submitted for Chauncey Billups. The Knicks can offer $1.4 million in free agency should no team make a waiver bid on MWP.
Yes, 10 players released through amnesty went unclaimed and became free agents. Of those 10, four appear to be gone forever (Charlie Bell, Ryan Gomes, Darko Milicic, James Posey); three returned and almost immediately broke down for good (Gilbert Arenas, Baron Davis, Brandon Roy); and one stunk to high heaven (Josh Childress).
Only two – Andray Blatche and Chris Andersen, lovable wingnuts in their own right – have returned to the NBA for more than a cup of coffee and a Krispy Kreme.
If just one team bids on World Peace, he becomes their property and cannot play for another team. And if World Peace tries to circumvent the winning bid by retiring – another balloon he has floated, in his own, inimitable wingnut way – he would not be allowed to play for another team until the 2014-15 season.
The hunch here is that either Dallas or Cleveland may bid on World Peace. Both teams have coaches who have had him as a player. In fact, MWP’s best season came in 2003-04 under current Mavs coach Rick Carlisle. It should also be noted that his worst season came in 2011-12 under current Cavs coach Mike Brown.
But my hope is that Joe Dumars plunks down about $2.5 million and brings World Peace to Detroit, where people love him as much as they do Honda and Toyota.
Because if that happens, there may be a supermodel in my bed.
Chris Bernucca is the deputy editor of SheridanHoops.com. His columns appear Monday during the season. You can follow him on Twitter.
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How about that Bernucca. I guess dreams do come true.
Did you get the supermodel, Bernucca? I expect no less from you. Weak link on a great site.
Phenomenal writing
What if no team picks him up? Then Knicks can sign. Could happen given reputation, decrease in shooting%, and reluctance to play elsewhere
Man. Put a warning sign on that last picture, or say NSFW, or SOMETHING.
Why the fuck do you trick people into seeing that without a fair warning at the very least?
Disgraceful.
I think Metta’s retirement plan may still stand… He is is essentially playing chicken with the small market teams. Though, I would imagine there is probably no penalty for a team grabbing him and calling his bluff. I would imagine if he does retire, then that team will be able to spend their money elsewhere.
ron artest is a wingnut. do not pick him up. tyrus thomas, nate robinson, earl barron or K-Mart would e a better fit….without the drama.
ed
knicksfan4life
Oh wow, I was thinking Detroit was going to get Metta. Their roster actually makes the most sense given they should be better than most of the other teams under the cap and they need a SF if Josh Smith plays at PF.
Then, I remembered.