Bobcats Amnesty Tyrus Thomas

JULY 10TH: The Bobcats have officially amnestied Thomas, according to Bonnell (via Twitter).

JULY 4TH: The Bobcats will amnesty Tyrus Thomas' contract in order to make room to sign Al Jefferson, reports Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. As I noted in our story on the Jefferson signing, since cap holds for Gerald Henderson and Cody Zeller ensure the Bobcats only have about $10MM in cap space, amnestying Thomas will create the necessary room to bring Jefferson aboard.

NBA teams will have the opportunity to amnesty players during the seven-day period beginning on July 10th, so the move won't become official until at least next week. When it's finalized, the Bobcats will eliminate Thomas' $8.69MM salary for 2013/14 and his $9.39MM salary for 2014/15 from their books. Charlotte will still have to pay Thomas all or most of that money, depending on whether he's picked up by another team, but the Bobcats will no longer take the cap hit.

Charlotte is one of 15 NBA teams that has yet to use its amnesty provision under the new CBA. While the Pelicans don't have any amnesty-eligible players left on their roster, 13 other clubs will still have the opportunity to use the amnesty clause starting next Wednesday. For the Bobcats, Thomas was the only player on the roster still eligible to be amnestied.