The New Orleans Hornets have waived Matt Carroll.

One week ago, Hakim Warrick was traded to the Charlotte Bobcats for Matt Carroll. Carroll never reported to the team, and he was just waived.

The deal was never about basketball talent, but about money in all likelihood. Warrick had $4m in guaranteed salary this year, but was effectively expiring. Carroll was on the last year of his deal and was set to make $3.5m. So, right of the bat, that’s a cool pro rata $500,000 for filling out some paperwork. Maybe Dell worked out a little raise for himself with that move, since he was extended shortly after the deal was consummated.

The net effect at this point for the Hornets is very little. They have slightly more room with which to accept a player this year without paying tax. That’s about it. Again, this is evidence of saving money for ownership.

Because he was waived after August 31, his salary is not `stretched’ and will be paid in full this season. Thus, this move will not directly affect the Hornets’ salary figure in any other season. If it allows a move that will affect next year’s salary, so be it, but that seems unlikely.

A long shot is that space on the roster is needed for some sort of deal. I’d love to see that deal, frankly. I would. With a roster of 13 after the waiving, a 4-x deal is made possible when a 3-y deal was just not workable. The only guy on the roster that commands the salary to pull in 4 pieces in trade, a couple of which are `worthy’, is Eric Gordon. Tossing in picks blurs the picture, of course.

This waiving could be a part of a buyout, as reported by Marc Stein. In this case, Matt Carroll would agree to accept less than the money owed to him by the team. Should that happen, the effect on the teams’ salary figure would be reduced to the buyout amount.

Also, should Carroll be picked up by another team off the waiver wire, this would remove Carroll’s salary from their books. Nota bene: The Bobcats can not pick him up. Also, should he sign to play anywhere else to play professional basketball, any salary in excess of $762,195 would reduce Carroll’s effect on the team at a rate of 50 cents on the dollar, if the team does not waive their right to this. If he is agreeing to a buyout and has an offer for a minimum salary of $1,229,255, then this will save the Hornets an additional $233,530, pro rata, again, if the set-off was not waived.

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