Rockets Knew of Mobley's Heart Problem Since Age 23

Mobley's heart condition re-examined

Alan Hahn
2:28 PM EDT, May 26, 2009

When it comes to matters of the heart, the truth is often seen in different perspectives. Cuttino Mobley was willing to play, regardless of his condition. Four NBA teams, it has been revealed, were willing to let him play, regardless of his condition.

And the Knicks decided not to let him play, because of his condition, but they accepted a trade with the Clippers that included him in it last November because when it comes to matters of the salary cap, you do whatever it takes to get the quickest relief. And jettisoning Zach Randolph's bloated contract was more important than anything else.

On Sunday, ESPN's Outside the Lines revisited the Mobley story, which played out over a three-month span this season, and eventually got Mobley to admit, on camera, that he was aware of the severity of his heart condition, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and disputed the previous notion that the MRI tests ordered by the Knicks showed his condition had worsened.

But the trade still did, in fact, save his life. Sort of. The truth is, Mobley says, the fact that the condition was made public is what put an end to his career.

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"Now it's a big uproar," Mobley told ESPN's Mark Schwarz. "If this is national, and they find out Cuttino Mobley is passed away and the NBA knew about it? I can understand, business-wise, you don't want that on your conscience. That's not something you want and I so understand that."

Mobley says he learned about the condition when he was a 23-year-old rookie with the Houston Rockets and that he signed waivers with all four teams that he played with – the Rockets, Magic, Kings and Clippers – to absolve the teams of any responsibility as a result of Mobley's decision to play despite his condition. But former Rockets GM Carroll Dawson told ESPN, on camera, that he never knew Mobley was playing with a life-threatening condition.

"Nobody ever thought of Cuttino dying," Dawson told ESPN.

The Knicks did and, therefore, decided against letting him play. Knicks president Donnie Walsh, who was not made available for the Outside the Lines piece, waived the physical and went ahead with the trade mainly to dump Randolph's salary, which still has two years and over $33 million left. Walsh could have rescinded the trade and renegotiated with Clippers GM/coach Mike Dunleavy to include another player, but there was a risk that the sides would not be able to find an alternative, which would have blown up the deal.

No, it was more important to cash in on the $17.3 million in savings on the books in 2010-11. That deal, along with sending Jamal Crawford to Golden State for Al Harrington on the same day, saved the Knicks $27 million in payroll in 2010-11. It officially gave the Knicks the ability to be major players in the heralded 2010 free agency sweepstakes.

And Walsh saw value in Mobley, despite the fact that it left a gaping hole at the shooting guard position as a result of the Crawford trade. There was an outside shot that the Knicks could have convinced the NBA that they should be awarded a Disabled Player Exception, which would mean they could acquire a player for half of Mobley's salary (about $4.4 million). The league denied it.

But the Knicks, as Newsday reported in January, were able to get 80 percent of Mobley's contract paid by insurance, which makes it still a commodity. Though he has retired, the Knicks have yet to officially waive him, which means they can include him in a future trade. A team can acquire Mobley's contract, which has one year left, with the knowledge that insurance will cover most of the cost.

Outside the Lines tried to admonish the Knicks for essentially using Mobley as a pawn in the 2010 Plan, but, quite frankly, when it comes to matters of rebuilding a long, lost franchise, you have to be creative.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/ny-sphahn0527,0,6672308.column