NBA Teams Still Paying Amnestied Players

In an interview with TMZ.com, Gilbert Arenas revealed that while his amnestied contract would have come to an end next summer, the Magic will continue to pay him through 2016, having agreed to spread out his $111MM salary across two additional years. Arenas’ admission is interesting not only because that type of information isn’t typically reported, but also because paying him an eight-figure salary through 2016 could affect how much Orlando spends elsewhere.

Arenas is one of several amnestied players still being paid through the 2013/14 season, and his arrangement with the Magic shows that we don’t know exactly what agreements were made between teams and players when clubs used their amnesty clauses. For instance, when the Sixers released Elton Brand via amnesty in 2012, he only had one year remaining on his contract, meaning Philadelphia is likely no longer on the hook for his salary. However, if the club agreed to spread out his payments, like the Magic did with Arenas, it’s possible that the Sixers’ debt to Brand hasn’t been entirely extinguished.

What we do know is that many amnestied players had contracts at least through the 2013/14 season, so their former teams are almost certainly still paying their salaries. Here’s a breakdown of the amnestied players, besides Arenas, who are still being paid by old teams this season. The year the player’s amnestied contract ends is noted in parentheses:

The following amnestied players’ contracts have expired, so presumably their teams are no longer paying them, unless they agreed to stretched-out payments like Arenas did:

Hoops Rumors’ Amnesty Tracker was used in the creation of this post.

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