SALT LAKE CITY, United States (AFP) - Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko is reportedly set to walk away from 63 million dollars remaining on his National Basketball Association contract. After translating an interview given to Russia's Sport Express newspaper, the Salt Lake Tribune reported Kirilenko said he is ready to leave the NBA and would most like to play in Moscow, leaving behind his big-money deal for his homeland. "I am prepared to go without it," the Tribune quotes Kirilenko as saying. "This is a lot of money, even for an NBA club. So what? Maybe this money could go to pay for more players or for something else. ADVERTISEMENT "I have never been unfair and I don't want to enjoy something that I don't deserve. Big money is obviously good but I'm prepared to make less. The size of my salary doesn't mean that much to me. The main thing is to play with a spark. "I am ready for anything. I just need to leave Utah Jazz." The Jazz, who are expecting Kirilenko to report for the start of training camp in 10 days, went 51-31 last season to win the NBA's Northwest division title. Kirilenko, who led Russia to the European title earlier this month, said the only thing he couldn't handle was staying with the Jazz. "The only thing I'm not prepared for is if I'm told, 'Andrei we want you to stay anyway,'" Kirilenko told the Russian newspaper. "How could you possibly rely on a player who wants to leave?" "I would like to be where I am needed and right now I feel that my country needs me," Kirilenko said. "But I cannot exclude some European clubs. "Trust me, I really am prepared to leave NBA. It certainly does not mean that I'm dying to go to Europe. I'm just ready." http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=afp-basketnbajazzruskirilenko&prov=afp&type=lgns
This guy's stock has been falling. Especially after last year. The guy makes a living off weakside blocks. Good riddance. I say let Derron Williams decide Utah isnt for him and come run the point here for a cheeseburger a month.
wow! im sure his crying didnt endear him much to coach sloan. a couple years ago he was on his way to being a top 15 player in the league and now this? i guess i can respect someone for going where they want and leaving that much cash on the table, but its pretty weak to break a contract like that. i could respect that decision more if he decided to leave after he had played it out. bad news for the j*zz...good news for me! i feel like mcdonalds! da da da da da IM LOVIN IT!
I think he should divorce his wife so that he can marry V-Span. On second thoughts, she gives him a free pass every year. Surely not even a world class quitter like V-Span could walk away from that!
As this situation pertains to the Rockets: If his contract is mutually negated, he won't be getting any of the money. So, it's not like Francis where he's already getting paid - the LLE is nowhere near enough on the open market, and he'd get way more even if he went to Europe. For Utah to trade him to us would be as stupid as the Spurs giving us Scola. Unless we sent them enough talent back to balance out the stupidity. And, why does everybody seem to prefer some injury-prone p***y that can't shoot over Shane Battier's defense and three pointers for 80 all-but-guaranteed games? You're telling me we need another pressure-sensitive pansy on this team? And we don't need Battier's court leadership to balance out our existing pansiness? For $37 million less?
For those of you who didn't read in between the lines... This is good news for the Jazz If he leaves and voids his contract, he would have done the same thing as the jazz. hes gonna clear about 15 mil a year for the jazz meaning they will have money to buy a rising star. Bad news for the west.
This reminds me of that excerpt from Amaechi's book: It's possible that AK, like Amaechi, just doesn't like Sloan as a coach or person and simply doesn't want to associate with him anymore.
AK47 would bring a shotblocker at the 4 that the rockets have been looking to place next to Yao for the past several seasons. A trade could also potentially help the rockets avoid luxury tax and avoid cutting anybody.
