Amnesty clause: Teams' top candidates

The Cavs dumping Davis is widely regarded as one of the inevitabilities of the second amnesty wave in NBA history. Especially since the Cavs landed Kyrie Irving with the No. 1 overall pick in June and still have Ramon Sessions on the roster. Yet sources close to the situation insist that this decision isn't as automatic as some would make it out to be.

The Cavs are known to not value cap space as much as trade assets. They've also been on a mission to acquire future draft picks since the departure of LeBron James. And since Davis is owed $13.9 million this season, but with only $2.5 million of his $14.8 million salary in 2012-13 guaranteed if he's waived by the end of June 2012, Cleveland is clinging to the belief that Davis could be a valuable trade asset if the Cavs hold onto him. There's also one more issue: If the Cavs were to burn their amnesty card on Davis, sources say LeBron's Heat would become an instant suitor and serious threat to sign Baron ... which would be painful beyond words for Cavs owner Dan Gilbert to stomach.(...)

Going down the amnesty road with Haywood won't even be considered, sources say, until the Mavs know if they can or can't keep highly coveted free agent Tyson Chandler. And even if it does manage to hang onto Chandler, Dallas contends that it could have traded Haywood last season if it wanted to and thus should keep Chandler's backup to see what kind of trade market is out there for him if necessary. Given that the final year on Haywood's contract -- worth $10.5 million in 2015-16 -- is fully unguaranteed, Dallas would also argue that his deal isn't as ghastly as it looks on paper.

In short? There would have to be some unexpected and extreme benefits in terms of 2012 cap space for the Mavs to take this step with either Haywood or Marion, who co-anchored what proved to be a title-worthy perimeter defense alongside Jason Kidd.(...)

It's widely assumed that the Pistons will waive Rip after all of last season's chaos. He's scheduled to earn $12.5 million this season and he has a partially guaranteed contract worth $9 million in 2012-13. Throw in the fact that the 33-year-old was seriously unhappy throughout the short-lived John Kuester era, plus Detroit's longstanding struggles to find a trade taker for him, and amnesty sounds like a natural solution.

Yet sources say the Pistons still believe Hamilton has some trade appeal to contending teams, particularly as he moves closer to the end of his contract. Debatable as rival teams might find that stance, word is Villanueva looms as the more probable amnesty option.

Villanueva has $24 million left on his contract and averaged a mere 3.9 rebounds per game last season while earning $7.5 million. Gordon, meanwhile, is still owed $37 million and coming off a similarly punchless season for a team overflowing with guards. Which one will it be? Someone will go, but cutting ties with either would be an expensive admission for Joe Dumars that the Pistons' substantial 2009 summer funds were misspent.(...)

fter the Magic grossly overpaid him in an attempt to win an NBA championship and then used his monster salary to trade for Gilbert Arenas, Lewis has been synonymous with the league's new amnesty rule since we started hearing about it back in the spring. That conveniently overlooks Lewis' prominent role in helping Orlando reach the NBA Finals in 2009, but facts are facts: He's an amnesty lock some two years later.

And that's because the Wiz, once they shed the nearly $30 million in guaranteed money left on Lewis' deal, can instantly become a major player in both the free-agent and trade markets. Taking your time with the amnesty clause is a nice new luxury to have, but there's no need when there's an immediate payoff of substantial cap space to be had.