MONDAY, 3:59pm: The Knicks announced that the buyout is now official.
2:01pm: The buyout is expected to become official today, USA Today’s Sam Amick tweets.
SATURDAY, 5:29pm: World Peace and the Knicks have come to a buyout agreement, according to Al Iannazzone of Newsday (Twitter link). It’s unclear when the buyout will become official and World Peace will hit waivers.
10:28am: The Knicks are working with Metta World Peace‘s agent on a buyout of his contract, the veteran announced today via Twitter. The small forward signed a two-year deal with the Knicks after the Lakers amnestied him last summer. He was being paid approximately $1.6MM this year, and had a player option for next year at nearly $1.7MM that will also be accounted for in the buyout negotiations. He will likely seek out a contending team to finish out this year, although none have been reported as interested this early in the process.
He had hoped that his time in New York could be a fairytale ending for his career, playing professionally for the first time in his home state. However, he hasn’t been a major part of coach Mike Woodson‘s rotation, playing by far the least minutes of his career at 13.4 a game. His reported disappointment in his reduced role led to some trade speculation on his end, although the Knicks never appeared to have any serious takers for the 34-year-old. Metta World Peace shares an agent with Beno Udrih, who is also working out a buyout agreement with the Knicks. Both are represented by Marc Cornstein of Pinnacle Management Corp. as you can see in our Agency Database.
After a nine-year prime stretch of his career when he averaged 18.7 points per game with the Pacers, Kings, and Rockets, the former Ron Artest was relied on more for his defensive prowess in four years with the Lakers from the 2009/10 season through last year, never scoring more than 12.4 PPG in a season. This year, he’s scored just 4.8 PPG in limited minutes.
Come to the Bulls and play some D, MWP.
Come back to the Pacers, but come back on a small deal..pacers will be a team that will always compete, so come back.
I wonder how well MWP can move defensively nowadays. It must not be well b/c otherwise he would be seeing playing time. Then again, I could say the same thing about Ronnie Brewer not playing, and I dont see that being b/c of his defense, as MWP can shoot the 3 better than he can