Well, if Kobe Bryant won't take a pay cut, the Los Angeles Lakers have to do something else to reduce their salary.
The Lakers on Thursday used their amnesty provision to cut Metta World Peace. The move that could save the team about $15 million, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Earlier in the day, Los Angeles signed free agent Nick Young, formerly of the Philadelphia 76ers to a one-year deal worth $1.2 million.
With the departures of the 33-year-old World Peace and Dwight Howard, the Lakers are just $2 million over the salary cap threshold, according to the Times. Last season, the Lakers paid nearly $30 million in luxury taxes for a season that resulted in a first-round playoff exit.
The franchise, The Times reported, has nine players signed for a total of $74 million.
World Peace spent four seasons in Los Angeles, contributing in a big way to the second of the Lakers' back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010. He scored 20 points and had five rebounds in the Lakers' 83-79 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals to help push the Lakers to the title.
According to The Times, any team under the salary cap can submit an undisclosed bid this weekend to the NBA to acquire World Peace, and the Lakers can use the money from that bid to offset the $7.7 million left on his contract.
Young, meanwhile, has averaged 11.3 points and 1 assist per game during a six-year NBA career. His agent, Mark Bartelstein said that Young had the option of waiting for a bigger offer from another team but wanted to play for the Lakers. The 6-foot-6 Young is listed as a guard, but could replace World Peace at small forward in L.A.
Bryant told Laker Nation that he refuses to take a pay cut. The NBA star who will be 35 next season and returning from a ruptured Achilles' heel injury, will make $32 million next season in the last year of his contract.
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