No the new signing isn't meant to replace him. The new guy is to replace Martin in an emergency.
Of course Kenny is useless but how do you get rid of him? He has a contract that binds the Kings to pay him an awful lot until the summer of 2010. He is not obligated to allow a buy out that saves the Kings any money and would be foolish to allow a buy out.
Certainly he has no trade value. Wanting him gone does not make him go away, unfortunately.
That might not be true. Basic logic would tell you that he should just sit and wait to get all of the money in his contract. But accepting a buy-out would not be the worst idea for him and here is why.
First, Kenny is 30 years old. By the time his contract is up, he will be what? 32? 33? And he will have not played enough up to that point to get a decent contract. I can't think of a team that would pay him the MLE, maybe the LLE. And that is for what?...the rest of his career?
If he takes a buy-out, he could sign with another team who would have to pay 0 or very little for him. Then he could use that team as a catalyst to get another contract, maybe even more than an MLE.
I think this idea was discussed at the beginning of the year...let Kenny rot on the bench until he accepts a buy-out. Cheaper for us, smarter for him.
Lets say he stays for the rest of this year and gets really pissed off and tells his agent to talk to GP. For the next two years we will owe Kenny just over $17M. Say he accepts a buy-out of $10M. So he leaves $7M on the table...why would he do that? Well he could go out next year, sign with a team for the league min or something, and find a way to get playing time to raise his value. Then he could go out and get another contract or two that would net him more money than if he stays here, keeps the $7M, and fails at getting anything other than an LLE. At some point, there will be a # that he could accept for a buyout that will benefit both him and us.
And depending on the person, money isn't everything. Maybe Kenny wants to play basketball and would be willing to take a paycut to do so. Who knows.
I am not a professor on the subject, so if I botched up some of the details, anyone please feel free to correct me.
