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The Los Angeles Lakers have officially waived small forward Metta World Peace under the amnesty provision and released an official statement to announce it.
Here's the full statement from Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak:
It's tough to say goodbye to a player such as Metta, who has been a significant part of our team the past four seasons. For anyone who's had the opportunity to get to know him, it's impossible not to love him. He has made many contributions to this organization, both in his community work as well as in our games; perhaps no more so than in his clutch play in Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals in helping to lead us over the Celtics in one of the greatest playoff wins in Lakers history. We thank Metta for all his contributions and wish him the best of luck in the future."
World Peace was expected to be released, as reported by Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register. The team could not make it official until July 10 and had until July 16 to finalize their use of the amnesty provision. The Lakers will save nearly $15 million by waiving World Peace.
In the meantime, recently signed Nick Young is "penciled in" as the starting small forward, according to Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times.
World Peace will now go through the claim process as teams under the salary cap can place bids on him. The highest bidder can claim him, and the difference between the winning bid amount and $7.7 million he is owed by the Lakers will come out of Los Angeles' pocket.
If he clears waivers, World Peace has a list of teams he'd prefer to land on with the New York Knicks expected to be his top destination.
- Drew
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