Why not, if he gets amnestied and he signs for vets min?
When a player gets amnestied, they don't get to choose where they go. If any team is interested at all on waivers they can put in a bid for him. From what I understand the team that bids the highest on him gets him. So say he's owed $12mil a year, and someone like Miami could only afford like $2mil a year (because of the cap), if a team like Orlando (just a random example) offers to pay $3mil a year, orlando gets him because the team who offers to pay the highest percentage of the amnesty picks the player up, hence saving NY some money they won't have to pay him. So in this situation, NY will only owe him $9mil a year if Orlando agrees to pay the $3mil. The amnestied players do not automatically become free agents.
I'm not 100% on all the details but that's what I got from it.
I'd have to imagine NY is having a lot of discussions with other teams about trading Billups for something.
He's not a guy to just pay $14 mil to go away... I'd have to imagine a team maybe like Sacramento would at least be open to discussions.
Anything to make this better where it's not essentially Billups and Turiaf for Chandler. Just any asset to get for either Billups or Turiaf to make it better
ESPNSteinLine Marc Stein
Story nailed by @KBergCBS. Knicks have jumped ahead of GSW for Tyson Chandler. Source close to talks: "New York is Tyson's first choice."
What about the possibility of NY and New Orleans having a last discussion, maybe around pure cap space, Iman Shumpert, Landry, Turiaf and Douglas for Paul and Okafor. That should work $ wise and it'd be a worth a shot. I know it's a bad offer, but it's somewhat acceptable if Paul refuses LA, GSW, and Boston. Then again, if we're for real about signing Tyson, then that means we lose any leverage we had in any CP negotiations because we'd no longer have the cap space in 2012 to say "oh he'll just sign as a FA"
What about the possibility of NY and New Orleans having a last discussion, maybe around pure cap space, Iman Shumpert, Landry, Turiaf and Douglas for Paul and Okafor. That should work $ wise and it'd be a worth a shot.
It doesn't give NO enough talent. They want talent, not cap space. Ridiculous IMO (they are basically confirming they will be mediocre) but what do i know.