Falk Plays the Brand Card

As everyone familiar with the situation knew, the Los Angeles Clippers' negotiations with Cassell had hit a snag. Donald Sterling was willing to let Cassell out of his contract, but only if he forfeited the remaining $1.7m left on his contract.

Trying to get Sterling over the hump, Elgion Baylor and others expressed concern about how much effort Cassell, who had missed four games because of a sprained right wrist, would put forth if the Clippers forced him to play out the season in LA.

More importantly, Cassell’s agent David Falk made clear that by taking a hard stance on the Cassell negotiations the Clippers might hurt negotiations with forward Elton Brand, who can opt out of his contract after this season and is also represented by Falk, the LA Times is reporting today.

Miraculously, Mr. Sterling came to his senses, though he didn’t have the cajones to announce the settlement himself. He left that task to Baylor.

"After weighing all of the options and after conversations with Sam we believe this is the best solution for this team," said Baylor, vice president of basketball operations. "We know and appreciate the many contributions Sam made during the last three years, and we wish him nothing but the best."

People laughed when Falk set a deadline for Sterling to pony up Cassell’s walking papers. What leverage, they asked, did Falk have for making demands on Sterling, given that his client was under a binding legal contract?

Well, we now know the answer.

Falk played the Brand card.

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.

Subsidizing Sam

The Sam Cassell deadline is drawing near. If Sam and Sterling haven’t come to terms by 9 p.m. tomorrow night, my understanding is that Cassell would not be eligible for the Celtics playoff roster.

Question:

If Sterling continues to be an ass by allowing Cassell to go but not offering him one red cent in the form of a buy out, I wonder if KG, the Truth, and Jesus would throw some money into the kitty to make up the difference?

It wouldn’t surprise me.