Those three-on-three games that Aaron McKie played with the 76ers will come in handy.
Because of a quirk in the convoluted NBA salary-cap system, McKie went from being a Sixers volunteer assistant to a member of the Memphis Grizzlies yesterday in a blockbuster trade with the Los Angeles Lakers.
According to an NBA source, McKie will be guaranteed $750,000. He signed a three-year contract with the Lakers yesterday in a sign-and-trade move. Only the remainder of this season is guaranteed.
The Lakers sent McKie, Kwame Brown, guard Javaris Crittenton, the draft rights to Marc Gasol - who is still playing in Spain - and first round picks in 2008 and 2010 to Memphis. In exchange, the Lakers received highly regarded forward Pau Gasol, Marc's older brother, and Memphis' second-round draft choice in 2010.
McKie never filed retirement papers and thus remained the property of the Lakers. To make the trade work, McKie had to be included.
Trades between teams that have exceeded the NBA's salary cap must have the salaries come within 125 percent and $100,000 of each other.
This year's NBA salary cap is $55,630,000.
Even though McKie was a volunteer coach, he was being paid $7 million this season by the Sixers as a part of the NBA's one-time amnesty agreement.
After the 2004-05 season, NBA teams were allowed to release players, still pay them, but not have their salary count against the luxury tax in the amnesty agreement.
NBA teams are charged a dollar for every dollar over the luxury-tax level, which is $67,865,000 this season.
Though the Sixers released McKie after the 2004-05 season, they still owed him $19.5 million over the final three years of his contract. The final $7 million was being paid this year.
"It's a great opportunity for Aaron," Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks said last night before the game against the Orlando Magic at the Wachovia Center. "It's an opportunity for him to take advantage of, and he can always come back."
It won't be this year.
Reached last night, Memphis coach Marc Iavaroni said McKie would be a player-coach for the young Grizzlies.
"We felt that it would be a great opportunity for our young players to learn from a player like Aaron," Iavaroni said in a phone interview.
McKie will travel to Memphis today. Iavaroni said he didn't expect him to play in the Grizzlies' home game tonight against Utah.
"We just lost a very good veteran in Damon Stoudamire, and we feel that Aaron will be a great addition," Iavaroni said.
McKie had been a popular member of the Sixers organization in his days as a player and his brief time as a volunteer coach.
"We're really going to miss him," Sixers guard Lou Williams said. "He was a great teacher and can really relate to us, and hopefully we'll see him coaching here again."
Sixers president and general manager Ed Stefanski said McKie had mixed emotions about leaving. McKie, who wasn't at the game, was unavailable for comment.
"Aaron was torn because he likes it here," Stefanski said. "It was his home, and he loves coaching."
The 35-year-old McKie, a former star at Simon Gratz and Temple, played the previous two seasons for the Lakers, though injuries limited him to just 24 games.
The NBA's sixth man of the year when the Sixers went to the NBA Finals in 2001, McKie has career averages of 7.4 points and 2.7 assists.
This will be his 14th NBA season as a player.
As fate would have it, Memphis will visit the Sixers on Feb. 13, the final game before the all-star break.
What appeared to be just another ordinary game will be an anticipated homecoming for McKie.
Quoting chrisnu (view post)
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