According to reports New York Knicks guard Allen Houston is just about ready to call it quits to his NBA career. Luckily the KNicks are guard-o-plenty and will probably not miss his services that were at their peak nearly five seasons ago. No terms have been disclosed about a contract buyout.
His contract will still count against the cap if he retires, right? If the Knicks to a Matt Maloney type deal, they'll be paying Houston until his kids are grown....
If so, I'd have to question his judgement; he was getting paid 20 million a year to watch basketball from the best seats in the house. If it doesn't even help his team for him to retire, what's the benefit to him in walking away from 40 million dollars?
Nope, he will be guaranteed money by the Knicks, but it won't be counted as 'salary', and hence, against the cap.
So it doesn't count against the cap? I guess that also means no luxury tax. Wow, that actually saves the Knicks about 40 million.
I thought it was the other way around. When Hakeem was thinking about retiring one year before his contract was up, everybody was saying that it wouldn't make much difference because the contract still counted against the cap...
I'm pretty sure he still gets counted against the cap, and the knicks will still have to pay the luxury tax. Houston's contract will be paid by insurance because an injury forced him to retire early. If they cut him using the amnesty clause, they would not pay the tax, but they would pay his salary. Because of this situation Isiah was able to perform his first shrewd move ever by cutting JYD with the amnesty clause. By cutting JYD and letting Houston retire, the net effect is that they saved JYD's tax money plus Houston's contract. They saved something like 60 million instead of the 40 million.
This has been an envivitable story. Houston has no cartilage in his knees and they're arthritic. Have been for the last two years. He's refused to admit that he's done, but the truth of the matter is, there is no rehab or surgery in the world that can make his knees the way they were again. Apparently, after it took only days in training camp for him to get sidelined, he's signed on with a doctor to be a guinea pig in an experimental cartilage replacement attempt. It's really sad at this point, but he needs to let go and face the fact that he's through playing ball. There won't be a buyout. He'll accept a medical retirement, and insurance picks up 80% of the Knicks' bill. He comes off the salary cap after next year. Isiah rolled the dice by waiving Jerome Williams with the amnesty rule instead of Houston, knowing this would happen. Evan
Medical retirees count against the cap for 1.5 years after they leave the game. Jamal Mashburn and Todd MacCulloch, as examples, are still on Philly's cap. Terrell Brandon was traded in the Sam Cassell trade a full year after his retirement since his contract (being paid by insurance) was about to offer salary cap relief. Evan
See below on CBA rule for retired player cap rules, Houston will definitely be a medical retiree. Any money paid to a player is included in team salary, even if the player has retired. For example, James Worthy retired in 1994, two years before his contract ended. He continued to receive his salary for the 94-95 and 95-96 seasons, so his salary was included in the Lakers' team salary in those seasons. It is at the team's discretion (or as the result of an agreement between the team and player) whether to continue to pay the player after he has retired. There is one exception whereby a player can continue to receive his salary, but the salary is not included in the team's team salary. This is when a player is forced to retire for medical reasons and a league-appointed physician confirms that he is medically unfit to continue playing. There is a waiting period of two years (if the injury or illness occurred between January 1 and July 1) or until the second July 1 following the injury or illness (if it occurred between July 1 and January 1) before a team can apply for this salary cap relief. If the waiting period expires mid-season (on any date prior to the last day of the regular season), then his entire salary for that season is removed from the team's team salary. For example, Luc Longley suffered a career-ending injury in March 2001. In March 2003, the Knicks were allowed to remove his entire 02-03 salary from their books (and since the luxury tax is based on the team salary as of the last day of the regular season, the Knicks avoid paying any tax on Longley's salary). There is also some luxury tax relief associated with disabled players -- see question number 15 . If a player retires, even for medical reasons, his team does not receive a salary cap exception to acquire a replacement player.
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/ESPNSports/story?id=1223977 "The team must still pay Houston, whose contract reportedly is insured and whose salary comes off the salary cap next year."
and the fact that all three draft picks are performing for them... isiah isn't looking too bad as a gm at the moment.
wow Isiah lucked out but it works for everyone. AHouston gets to enjoy the rest of his life and the Knicks get out of paying his contract. waiving JYD was a bold move but I guess it really paid off.. could the Knicks be trying to actually control their salary cap? J
