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espn | Amnesty clause: Teams' top candidates
Link
go.com
SAN ANTONIO SPURS
Most likely amnesty cut: Richard Jefferson
How likely to use amnesty this season? Jump ball
Other amnesty candidates: None
Analysis: The Spurs, as ESPN.com reported Friday, are leading the push for an amnesty clause that can be "pocketed" for later use. Which helps explain the loud rumblings in circulation about the Spurs hoping that they can avoid casting Jefferson aside in spite of the $9.3 million, $10.2 million and $11 million that RJ's scheduled to earn over the next three seasons.
It makes sense that the Spurs want to keep fielding the strongest team possible before Tim Duncan's window shuts for real, but their hand could well be forced. If the new luxury-tax scale in the next labor deal is super punitive, keeping Jefferson is to going to be financially crippling for a team with a payroll that would still be above $65 million in 2011-12 without him.
