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 General Basketball WiretapWizards, McCloud could discuss buyoutMasrc J. Spears of the Denver POst reports: The Washington Wizards might be considering buying former Denver Nugget George McCloud out of his contract. The Nuggets gave the Wizards McCloud and $500,000 on Thursday in exchange for point guard Chris Whitney. McCloud said he would meet with Wizards officials this morning in Washington. The Wizards reportedly are considering buying McCloud out of the final year and $2.6 million of his contract. McCloud would lose a portion of his salary if he were bought out. "We'll get to see (today) what they are saying face to face," McCloud said Sunday. "The likelihood of me taking a buyout is 99 percent that I won't." Wizards officials have said only that they will meet with McCloud today. NBA rosters must be set by 4 p.m. MST on Tuesday. Washington must trim its roster from 17 to a maximum 15. Its bubble players include McCloud, swingman Bobby Simmons, forward Brian Cardinal and injured center Ratko Varda. The Wizards reportedly are learning toward keeping Simmons and Cardinal. While, McCloud could get dealt in a one-for-one player deal, that is unlikely. Sam Wyche of the Washington Post reports that league sources have said that several teams have interest in McCloud if Washington waives him. Washington Wizards, Denver Nuggets, General Basketball Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Sonics and the luxury taxWe haven’t presented much about the luxury tax lately. However, the rules now appear pretty much set. And of course they’re more complicated than previously described. Frank Hughes of the Tacoma News Tribune describes how the impending luxury tax situation affected the Sonics’ negotiations with Rashard Lewis. As Sonics CEO Wally Walker says, “The potential luxury tax penalties and benefits are so large that they had been a large part of all NBA decisions this offseason.” Hughes describes three sources of revenue for teams. The first is the escrow contribution from players. Teams under the luxury tax threshold will get about $5.8 million. Other teams will get a prorated lesser amount, down to about a $4 million minimum. The second is luxury tax contributions. Teams under the threshold will get 1/29th of the contributions, expected to be a bit over $7 million. Teams within about $3 million of the threshold get a lesser amount, while teams that exceed the threshold by more than that amount get nothing. Finally, about 10 days ago the league ruled on what to do with any undistributed escrow and luxury tax money they’ve received. The league will keep a bit of it, but most will be distributed evenly among all teams. It’s expected that the most a team can receive back is about $17 million. Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback NBA: Charlotte in good shape for '04 teamRick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer reports: The NBA is poised to return to Charlotte in the fall of 2004 if negotiations between the league and city continue on their current path, a top league official said. Speaking publicly about Charlotte for the first time in months, NBA Deputy Commissioner Russ Granik told The Observer that talks between the city and the league leave Charlotte in a strong position to replace the Hornets. "We think we've had very positive meetings with the city and the business community," Granik said. Charlotte lost the Hornets to New Orleans this summer after two years of sometimes-hostile arena negotiations with the city. Granik said a new team would play one season in the Coliseum, then move into a new uptown arena full of the luxury suites and club seats the Hornets wanted. Granik said if the NBA returns to Charlotte, there would be no reason to wait until a new arena opens in fall 2005. Coliseum Authority Director Mike Crum said the earliest an arena could open is fall 2005. "If the spirit is there, we'd rather not wait another year," Granik said. "It's not like the Coliseum has been a terrible venue for basketball. The problem was on the revenue side. Certainly for one year you could play there." Granik will brief NBA owners Tuesday on the Charlotte situation during a meeting in New York. If owners approve, the league would soon begin negotiations with candidates to own a Charlotte expansion team. Charlotte City Manager Pam Syfert said Granik's comments "sound very positive" but wouldn't discuss the state of talks between the NBA and city officials, which have been secret. Syfert expects to say more Monday night when she gives City Council members an arena update. She said Friday she hopes to report on the NBA negotiations and the city's efforts to secure an uptown arena site. Sources say the NBA will set the expansion fee at about $300 million -- money that would be divided among the 29 existing NBA teams. That's about $10 million per ownership group, including the Hornets' George Shinn and Ray Wooldridge. Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Oct 2002 Archive
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