Feeling is that Cassell will Get Bought Out

Clippers notebook
Cassell might be bought out
By Joe Stevens, Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 02/24/2008 10:55:19 PM PST

One day after the Clippers let the trading deadline pass without dealing 38-year-old Sam Cassell, the veteran was scratched from Friday night's game against Utah with a sprained right wrist.

Cassell wore a brace on the wrist, got an X-ray, which came back negative, and said he would try to play in tonight's game against the Lakers. But the way he described his injury, it sounded unlikely that he'd be able to play.

"It's bad," he said. "I can't dribble a ball now."

Cassell hurt the wrist when falling on a TV camera in the Clippers' victory over Memphis on Wednesday night. He only played 14 minutes in that game because of the injury.

In the background of all of this is the fact that Cassell wants to be bought out of his contract so he can join a contender. The clock is ticking on that possibility because if a player joins a team after March1, he is ineligible to play in the postseason.

Over the past few days, Cassell has not come out and flat-out said that's what he wants. But earlier this season, he said he'd be a good fit with the Boston Celtics, and despite his diplomacy, it is obvious that he'd like to be bought out.

Cassell is making $6.1 million this season and is in the final year of a two-year deal. The word in the Clippers' organization is that it's possible the organization will go ahead and buy him out. If it doesn't, it will have to deal with a veteran whose heart isn't in remaining with the team. Also, there
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hardly is any motivation to keep him during a season in which the team is just about mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.

Although the Clippers have been tight-lipped about its plans, there is a feeling that they will eventually buy him out.