What is a buyout? Why do people keep talking about them?
At any time, a team and a player can agree to a buyout of that team’s remaining salary obligation to that player. The Celtics did this with Vin Baker, and in recent years Chris Webber, Tim Thomas, Steve Francis, Derek Fisher, Troy Hudson, Adonal Foyle, and others have all agreed to buyouts. In a buyout situation, the team pays a player a reduced amount, and allows that player to become an unrestricted free agent (after they clear waivers). The team executing the buyout is responsible for the agreed upon sum, with the cap hit being divided out equally among the remaining years of the contract (ie, in Vin Baker’s deal, he had three years on his deal, and he agreed to a $16 million buyout. Thus, the team carried a $5.33 million cap hit on its salary cap for three years.) There is speculation that a number of players could be bought out of their contracts this season, including Sarunas Jasikevicius and Sam Cassell. If that happens, the players would in all likehihood become unrestricted fr
