Basketbawful

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

cap killer (kap kil'-ur) noun. A player with an expensive, long-term contract who has little or no current value (and is therefore untradeable) but whose salary effectively prevents his team from signing any quality free agents.

Usage example: Anfernee Hardaway was once "The Next Michael Jordan," but now he's just a cap killer.

Word Trivia: With a salary of $19,125,000, Allan Houston is the second highest paid player in the NBA. You could make an arguement that Houston was never worth that much money, and you'd be right. But it's especially true now, considering he doesn't even play basketball anymore. Houston retired prior the the 2005-06 season, due to various injuries that had forced him to miss 94 games over the previous two seasons. Fortunately for Houston, and unfortunately for the Knicks, his money is guaranteed. Not only is he still getting paid, his salary still counts against the salary cap. Of course, the cap -- and the luxery tax imposed for surpassing it -- isn't much of a concern for the Knicks. Case in point: at $15,750,000, Anfernee Hardaway is the Knicks' second highest paid player and the 13th highest paid player in the league. That's a pretty hefty price tag for a guy who's averaging 2.5 points on 28.6 percent shooting and has only appeared in four games this season. Oh, and he only played 37 games last season too. Other notable (in the bad sense) Knicks include Stephon Marbury ($16,453,125), Jalen Rose ($15,694,250), Maurice Taylor ($9,100,000), and Shandon Anderson ($6,733,000). So it should be no surprise that the Knicks' league-leading $125,959,263 in player salaries is almost $30 million more than the next highest team. That's a lot of money for 14 wins. On a final note, Allan Houston is due for a pay raise in 2006-07; he'll be making $20,718,750.

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