The Birdman flies free.
And so does Ryan Gomes.
Well, kind of. The Denver Nuggets put in the paperwork to amnesty Chris Andersen — nicknamed the “Birdman” — about 30 minutes before the deadline, reports the Denver Post. The Clippers also decided to use their amnesty on Ryan Gomes, according to the Los Angeles Times.
In both cases this is about freeing up money for other players.
In the Nuggets case, they want to sign Anthony Randolph as a free agent — they flew him out to Las Vegas and he met with Nuggets brass Tuesday — but to do that they needed to free up some money. By using the amnesty clause on Andersen the Nuggets save $9.3 million.
With Gomes out it frees up $4 million, allowing the Clippers to offer a two-year deal to Grant Hill.
In both cases these are veteran role players that still have some value to teams in the NBA. Plus, if your team is below its tattoo quota Andersen can get you over the top quickly.
Teams below the salary cap can bid to take over a portion of Gomes and Andersen’s contracts (the players will get their full contractual amount, the Clippers and Nuggets will pick up the remaining portion). Teams have 48 hours from tonight to do that.