One of the features of the NBA’s soon-to-be approved collective bargaining agreement is the famed amnesty clause, which will allow teams to waive players signed before this season and have their salaries spread out over a number of years. It’s been fun for everyone to speculate (and even rank) on who will be the ultimate casualties, but with the start of the season drawing near, some amnesty moves are becoming more clear.
Reports out of Phoenix say that Vince Carter will be waived by the Suns once the lockout ends next week, which will free him up to be claimed by any team under the cap (with a chance that a tax paying team can claim him if a non-tax paying team doesn’t) and will free up some space for the Suns to potentially add some key pieces around aging star Steve Nash.
However, this represents another mark in the fall from grace for Vince. Half-Man, Half-Trying was a marquee star as recently as 2007-08, when he averaged 21 ppg/6 rpg/5 apg for the New Jersey Nets. Since then, he’s been traded twice. First, as the potential missing piece to the Orlando Magic’s championship puzzle, and then to the Suns after he failed miserably in the postseason for the Magic.
Being the first casualty of the amnesty clause would obviously not be a good luck for Vince. With his reputation as a superstar player dead and buried, they might even name the clause after him in 2017 after this CBA expires. (The Vince Carter Amnesty Rule? Half-Man, Half His Contract on the Books? I’ll go with the latter.)
However, if this move ends up with him fulfilling his rightful new destiny as the key sixth man for the Miami Heat or Oklahoma City Thunder, it’ll be him with the last laugh.