Life as an NBA player can be quite glamorous, but it’s hardly always a walk in the park and, unless you’re a superstar in the league, you’re never guaranteed to have a job.
Garrett Temple has found this out the hard way. The 14-year veteran was waived by the New Orleans Pelicans this Wednesday, right before his $5.4 million contract would have been fully guaranteed on July 7.
The Pelicans had delayed their decision on the player’s contract from the end of June, pushing it to the aforementioned date, and they’ve now opted to take the sum off of their books.
Michael Scotto of HoopsHype was the first to report this yesterday evening, suggesting that the player had gotten this close to having a guaranteed $5.4 million but would instead wake up the following morning without a job.
Temple is set to be a free agent once he clears waivers, so it will be interesting to see whether he is picked up by another team. The 37-year-old has played for 11 franchises over the course of a 14-year career and spent the last two seasons with the Pelicans. He appeared in 25 games last term, playing a total of 84 games, averaging 4.3 points a night in 15 minutes per game.
The Pelicans, though, aren’t below the tax line just yet in spite of this decision.
