Will Sam Clear Waivers?

I’m still of the opinion that the Clippers and Cassell will come to terms before the looming deadline.

But that’s not the end of the drama.

As some observers have pointed out, there are several teams with room to offer the Alien more money than the Celtics. The problem is that all of those teams are in the West and none of them—Dallas and Phoenix, to name two-- appear to be leading candidates to get to the Finals.

So the question, then, becomes not whether Dallas or Phoenix might claim Cassell off waivers, but whether Cassell would agree to play for those teams after being claimed.

I imagine it going something like this:

Mark Cuban: Good morning, David. I see that your client, Sam Cassell, has been bought out and released by the Clippers. We’d like to sign him.

David Falk: Good morning, Mark. Sam doesn’t want to play for Dallas. He wants to play for Boston.

Mark Cuban: Ok. But I think we’re going to claim him anyway.

David Falk: You’re going to force a player to play for you, even though he’s told you he doesn’t want to?

Mark Cuban: He’s a professional. He’ll step up to the plate.

David Falk: No he won’t. He won’t report. Not only that, you will have violated the trust of all the other owners by not letting him clear waivers. I would expect retribution at some point in the future. And don't forget that you forcing Cassell to play for you will be advertised to every other player in the league. Not such a good advertisement.

Hopefully that would end it.