Hooped Up

The Washington Wizards bought out the contract of guard Mike James on Monday and waived him.

James, who was in his second season with Washington, sought a buyout after he wasn’t traded last month. He left the team by mutual agreement after the Feb. 18 trading deadline.

He had played in only four games with the Wizards this season, his second with the club, averaging 4.5 points.

The 34-year-old James has played for nine NBA teams in nine seasons. He played in 57 games with Washington, averaging 9.3 points since being acquired in Dec. 2008.

Press Release

Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has signed guard Shaun Livingston to a ten-day contract. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not announced.

A former “Mr. Basketball” in Illinois (2003-04), Livingston led Peoria Central High (Peoria, IL) to Class AA state titles in 2003 and 2004 before jumping straight to the NBA as the L.A. Clippers’ first-round pick (fourth overall) in the 2004 NBA Draft. Livingston has appeared in 167 games (61 starts) in parts of five seasons in the NBA, compiling career averages of 6.9 points, 3.0 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. Read More »

Great ghost of Gilberts guns! If it wasn’t for bad luck, the Washington Wizards would have no luck at all. Enter the season ending knee injury of newly acquired Josh Howard.

Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that guard/forward Josh Howard has a torn ACL in his left knee and will miss the remainder of the 2010-11 season. Howard suffered the injury in last night’s game vs. Chicago at the 4:23 mark of the first quarter. In four games (three starts) for Washington this season, Howard averaged 14.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.No timetable has been announced for Howard’s recovery.

I never thought I’d say this, but the Washington Wizards at this point look like they need College phenom John Wall way more than the (5 and awful) New Jersey Nets. That’s just how bad things look right now for the Wiz.

H/N Press Release

A three-way trade between Washington, Cleveland and the Los Angeles Clippers has officially gone  down with Antawn Jamison as the centerpiece.

Jamison will be heading to the Cavaliers along with Sebastien Telfair. Drew Gooden recently acquired by the Wizards, will head to the Los Angeles Clippers and Zyundras Ilgauskas, a first-round draft choice from Cleveland, Al Thornton and Brian Skinner will join the Wizards.

Washington will also receive the draft rights to Emir Preldzic.

H/N The Plain Dealer + Washington Post

The Dallas Mavericks acquired Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood from Washington on Saturday, a seven-player deal that strengthens them for a playoff run and signals the breakup of a disappointing Wizards team.

The Mavericks dealt forwards Josh Howard and Drew Gooden, and two other players to the Wizards. Dallas also got guard DeShawn Stevenson and cash considerations. Read More »

The glimmer in the eye Knicks GM Donnie Walsh aka Tracy McGrady, is still bright and with the mid-season trade deadline fast approaching the Knicks are kicking the tires on a complex, three-team deal that would send T-Mac to the New York Knicks, according to Yahoo! Sports.

The deal would have the Washington Wizards moving Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood to the Houston Rockets. The Knicks sending  Al Harrington to the Wizards, plus another player, possible draft picks and cash to make this deal fly.

This season Tracy McGrady is the highest paid player in the NBA earning an estimated $23 million per year.

From the not so shocking file, Gilbert Arenas was officially suspended for the remained of the 2009-2010 NBA season by his own request to commissioner David Stern after the two met to discuss the all-star guards fate according to the Washington Post.

Arenas also told the commissioner that he would not have the players union fight on his behalf to have the suspension reduced for the incident that occurred in the Wizards locker room. However this probably does not limit his suspension to the remained of the season and his $111 million deal with the Wizards still hangs in the balance.

Arenas also hinted to friends, that he would like to move on from playing for the Washington Wizards and team President Ernie Grunfeld. I don’t know about you, but I still smell some more suspension time coming Arenas’ way at the very least.

via Washington Post

While the Washington Wizards announcers giggling like little school girls with ringlets in their hair and the players were chilln’ Shannon Brown was all bidness and managed to pass all five Wizard defenders for a putback dunk off an Andrew Bynum missed freethrow attempt.

Laugh about that announcer man.

Unfortunately, Jay Leno made his annoying return to late night TV and he landed Michael Jordan for his first interview back via satellite (sarcastic yay!). As you would expect if you had any taste, it was awful and Leno asked all the questions a grade 6 class would ask MJ on bring your parent to school day. It’s a good thing that Jordan saved this thing by calling Leno stupid for my entertainment.

So if you wanna know between Jay Leno or Conan O’Brien who I like more, the answer is pretty obvious — David Letterman.

I’m all for everybody getting their paper to make a living, but if the Washington Wizards yank Gilbert Arenas’ contract. I really don’t think he’ll end up on the street, and it would be the best deterrent for future would be gunslingers.

To escape paying Gilbert Arenas the rest of his clogging contract — $80.2 million for four years after this season — the Wizards may seek to void the deal, and do so by invoking the morals clause in the uniform player contract under the league’s collective bargaining agreement. The Wizards have distanced themselves from Arenas since the handgun incident, removing his likeness from the Verizon Center and issuing terse statements that could be a precursor to an attempt to void the deal.

Even if the Wizards void his contract, I’m guessing that the players association will file an appeal on his behalf and drag this thing out further. I’m just interesting to see who will still be in the Arenas corner when all the dust settles.

Via New York Times