Orlando Magic waive Gilbert Arenas; more changes to come – NBA Update
The Orlando Magic on Friday, December 9, waived the contract of heavily paid yet underperforming guard Gilbert Arenas by using a one-time amnesty clause in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Arenas was a prime candidate for the amnesty provision in Orlando because of his large contract and low output on the court. Under the new rules, the Magic will still have to pay out the money they owed to Gilbert Arenas on his
contract but he won’t be part of the team. His contract will also not count against the team’s salary cap, giving them more room to sign free agents or make trades for big names.
In other developments at Orlando, the team signed rookie forward Justin Harper and rookie guard DeAndre Liggins to contracts while they have almost sealed a trade for Glen Davis from the Boston Celtics in exchange for Brandon Bass.
The flurry of transfer activity at the franchise also included strong rumours about star player Dwight Howard’s departure and later reports surfaced that the Magic could complain to the NBA for possible illegal contact with Howard’s
agents by other teams.
Although those reports turned out to be untrue in the end, it contributed to a frantic day for everyone involved with the organization. Magic guard Jameer Nelson said Friday "was probably one of the craziest days in my life in
terms of basketball."
He also said that although it was difficult, he was confident he could deal with everything once the dust settles.
"Not knowing certain guys, Brandon getting traded, Big Baby coming in. Like it said, it's just one of those days that shows you why you're a professional athlete and that you can handle it."
Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy was also a little ruffled by the sudden outburst of activity in Orlando’s front office. He however stressed that his job was to concentrate on the basketball side of things and he wanted his players
to be focused on matters pertaining to an NBA court.
"When we come out here, it's not about any of that," he said. "It's about basketball and given the short amount of time to get ready, that's my focus. Obviously Otis has a lot of things going on and things he has to be concerned
with. He keeps me informed and we talk about those things. But when it time for practice, that's what I'm concerned with and our players, that's where their focus needs to be."
It is not yet clear by any means what the team will look like when the season finally begins, with many more changes possible at the moment. The biggest challenge for Orlando is sure to be hanging onto super star Dwight Howard,
who is in great demand around the league.
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