24Q: Will the Kings Use Their Amnesty Clause?

teamziller Tom Ziller
Man, don’t you all think Portland is just beautiful this time of year and every other time of year? @JCrossover

teamziller Tom Ziller
Pretty sure the Kings are going 0-66 this season. @JCrossover

I would join the bandwagon but JCrossover is not accepting my tweets. :)

And if it comes down to dollars, it would be Salmons, as Garcia’s deal is really only guaranteed for two years at $12m and change. But if it’s a function of pulling the amnesty trigger to make contracts fit, I suppose it could come down to Garcia.

Mostly wishful thinking. Sorry, John.

were Beno fans. Doesn’t make any sense.

but i dont really see them using it as things look now but if they do i think it would def be garcia. most overpaid player on our team. (i think everyone can agree with that)

Don’t see them getting a stud SF any time soon. Salmons is an updgrade over Garcia. Personally think neither of those two though.

but not this year or probably next.

Necessity will determine if anyone gets amnestied. We would have to get an upgrade at SF and need the cap room to boot for anything to happen. As long as we are below the luxury tax everyone is staying on the team.

Furthermore, we need the depth. This will be an interesting year for mid level players because I foresee them getting a bit more playing time this year in order to give starters proper rest. It will also bump up role players stats for free agency next year so buyers beware.

It probably won’t be this year, but there are a lot of attractive FA’s next year and he is the highest paid guy on our team. Salmons is a better all around player, but Garcia seems to be more of a glue guy. I just wish his defense was as good as Salmons, because Garcia fits perfectly on offense by standing on the 3pt line and stroking 3’s.

Having not read comments yet here’s a few thoughts. Wouldn’t surprise me if they used the amnesty. The Maloof’s are gamblers and the Kings are all they have left. They’ll go all in to the best of their ability financially. Time to bring the excitement back to the arena. I like how they are loading up the roster instead of just 1 big signing. That’s a good strategy in this shortened year. Also gives them a lot of flexibility to trade in future. That’s where there is probably a better opportunity than in this free agent class. Like the moves they’ve made and that they look like they can and will run. Won’t be much time for this team to develop into an effective half court offensive team.

Just due to his contract. If next year the option comes along to trade for a legit starter making good money, I can see the team cutting Garcia in the last year of his contract to stay closer to the cap.

I don’t see them cutting Salmons for two reasons. First, he’d still get paid and I don’t see the Kings paying him to not play for them. Second, and whether people like it or not, coaching staff and front office REALLY like John Salmons. Tough to get over, I know… but it’s the obvious truth. Unless his production on the court really is terrible, this won’t change.

I wonder if Garcia would be a candidate for something like this as opposed to a straight amnesty. The team obviously values Garcia for a number of reasons, but probably not to the full extent of his paycheck. He’s a bit overpaid, but at this point there are only a couple of years left on his deal and really not a significant amount of money. I could see a lot of teams interested in grabbing him off of the waiver wire, but at a very low bid. Similarly, I could see a lot of teams, including the Kings, very interested in adding/keeping Garcia on their team after his current contract is up, though at a much lower salary.

I’m not totally sure how a contract restructuring would work or all of the pros/cons for Garcia and the team, but there’s something about Garcia’s value now and moving forward in his career that makes me feel like he might be content to take a pay cut now for a longer, lower contract. It would essentially be Cisco recognizing the fact that he’s probably never going to have a chance to earn another big contract on the Kings or on any team, and the value of most of his remaining career is pretty well set (and it’s set well below his current annual pay).