Warriors buy out Troy Murphy

The Warriors have reached a buy-out agreement with Troy Murphy that will pay him less than 100% of his remaining salary, according to multiple sources.

The two clear leaders for him are Miami and Boston, who both already are campaigning for a deal.

As insisted by Warriors owner Joe Lacob, one source said, Murphy agreed to sign only with an Eastern Conference team. (Portland is one Western team that showed interest.)

The buy-out deal was struck today, during a long, productive conversation between team owner Lacob an power-agent Dan Fegan. (The generally cordial tone of the conversation was confirmed by sources on both sides.)

Fegan and Murphy argued that, before trading Murphy to the Warriors, New Jersey agreed to pay him 100% in any buy-out, which is a promise they wanted Lacob to uphold.

But Lacob held the line and, according to one source, said that the Warriors’ intent was to flip Murphy to another team–believed to be Cleveland, for Antawn Jamison and a draft pick. When that trade did not happen at Thursday’s deadline, Murphy and the Warriors were at loggerheads on the buy-out terms.

Exact details of the agreement were not available, but it is believed that the percentage subtracted by the Warriors will correspond relatively to the pro-rated salary Murphy can be expected to receive from his next team.

Murphy won’t make as money in this as he could’ve (when you’re bought out for 100%, everything else you sign for is extra money), but he won’t lose money, either.

–What do the Warriors gain by letting Murphy sign with a championship contending team instead of forcing him to report and becoming ineligible to play in the playoffs for any team except the Warriors?

Lacob saves the money he negotiated down from Murphy’s $11.9M salary–possibly about $275,000.

If he had forced Murphy to report to the Warriors–his old team, with which he did not leave under happy circumstances–Lacob could have badly upset the chemistry of the locker room for not much basketball gain.

The team is not playing well, but all season, the locker room has been a happy, healthy place, which you could not say about many Warriors’ locker rooms over the years.

Possibly most importantly, by coming to a negotiated agreement with Fegan, Lacob steered away from the old Wariors way of needless confrontation with power-agents.