Z-Bo
I do not see any teams giving value back for Zach Randolph, despite his offensive abilities. I no longer see the Clippers as a possible destination.
If a principal goal is to eliminate Z-Bo's $17.33M salary for 2010, then there are some teams out there that could send us their two years of bad contracts for our three years of Z-Bo's contracts. For example, Sacramento has Kenny Thomas on the books in 2008 for $8,562,500 and in 2009 for $8,775,000. They have Abdur Rahim under contract in 2008 for $6,200,000 and in 2009 for $6,600,000. Z-Bo's 2008 contract is for $14,666,667, his 2009 contract is for $16,000,000 and his 2010 contract is for $17,333,333.
The combined 2008 contracts for K. Thomas and Rahim total $14,762,500. This is less than $100,000 above Z-Bo's 2008 contract. Their combined 2009 contracts total $15,375,000 which is $625,000 less than Z-Bo's 2009 contract. They are off the books in 2010.
I do not expect that Sacramento will use much of Messrs. Thomas and Rahim for the balance of their contract terms. If Sacramento were to trade Thomas and Rahim for Z-Bo, as a practical matter Sacramento would be getting Z- Bo for about $6,000,000 a year. The Knicks would not have Z-Bo, would not likely use Thomas or Rahim, but Z-bo would be off the books in 2010 and the Knicks would save about $18,000,000. In this scenario I would anticipate buy-outs for Rahim and K. Thomas.
Of course, Artest's contract could substitute for one of Thomas's or Rahim's, but, unfortunately, that will not happen. Perhaps we could also get a draft pick.
Cleveland is another possible destination. Ben Wallace has two more years at about $14,000,000 for each year.
