FanHouse Michael Heisley

The sideshow has been shut down. And they never even put the big top up.

Everybody knew Allen Iverson was signed by Memphis in September in order to sell tickets and bring some buzz to a moribund franchise. Everybody knew Iverson wasn't going to crack the starting lineup.

Check that. Everybody knew except Iverson, who, at 34, has declined significantly as a player. He was in a disbelieving state that he was going to show up in Memphis, become a starter and average his usual 25 points per game.

Earlier Monday morning, Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley gave Allen Iverson until the end of the week to decide whether he wanted to return to the team or not. As it happens, Heisley got his answer by the end of the day.

From a statement released Monday afternoon by Grizzlies GM and vice president Chris Wallace: "The Grizzlies and Allen Iverson have come to a mutual agreement that because of personal matters that forced him to leave the team on November 7, Allen will step away from the game at this time, allowing him to focus on those matters. As a result, we will be ending our contractual agreement with Allen, which will allow both parties to move forward. We wish Allen the best."

Update: Grizzlies, Iverson will part ways

Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal reports that the previously patience management of the Grizzlies has become less forgiving of Allen Iverson's mysterious exile. Tillery writes that Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley has told A.I.'s agent the guard has until the end of the week to choose between rejoining Memphis or retiring.

Further, Tillery has an Iverson source passing on word it's unlikely The Answer will be back in Memphis. Heisley may be willing to trade Iverson, but that can't happen for another month, and boy would that be one awkward month. If Iverson retires, he'd be restricted from signing an NBA contract for a year, unless he can convince all 30 teams (including the Grizz) to reinstate him early. (This is unlikely. Even Jason Williams, non-controversial as he is, could not get reinstated early.) I have a feeling we have seen the last of A.I. this season.

I, among others, have given Michael Heisley and the Memphis Grizzlies some gruff over the franchise's thrift this summer. While the team did take on Zach Randolph's hefty contract and eventually signed Allen Iverson, the perception remains that the Grizz exist only to suck the lives out of anxious prospects and to serve as financial lubricant for the rest of the NBA.

Part of that is, unfortunately, still valid. But with the acquisition of A.I., the Grizzlies find themselves at the threshold of the salary cap. Memphis will no longer be able to help the teams in contention execute swaps as a third party.

Luckily, three teams remain under the cap -- yes, three teams actually look to be cheaper than the Grizzlies this season. Check them out, after the jump.

With rosters gathering for pre-preseason workouts and all the major free agents rumored to be finding closure, it makes sense that Allen Iverson would inch closer to a final destination of his own. On Sunday, the Memphis Commercial-Appeal reported that Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley and Iverson would attempt to meet in person to close a deal bringing The Answer to Memphis.

Late Sunday, Iverson confirmed via Twitter that he is scheduled to meet with Heisley on Monday. The Grizzlies can offer a contract of $4.5 million for this season; there haven't been any rumors that A.I. was seeking a long-term deal with Memphis. The idea, it is understood, is that Iverson would show in the 2009-10 season that he is worthy of a multi-year deal beginning in 2010-11. Given the A.I. has had this much trouble securing a one-year deal at a small salary, he has a tall mountain to climb.

We all know about the NBA's salary cap -- a limit teams are allowed to spend on players. The cap is soft, and the vast majority of teams exceed the salary cap on an annual basis. Rarely will a team spend a whole season, let alone multiple seasons, under the cap.

But there's also something called a minimum team salary, the level of player spending teams must exceed each year. The collective bargaining agreement signed in 2005 sets the minimum team salary at 75% of the salary cap level. For the upcoming 2009-10 season, that minimum salary would be $43.2 million.

Would you believe that the masters of the cheap, the Memphis Grizzlies, have found a way around the minimum salary? And would you believe it explains the Zach Randolph trade?

Of all teams in need of a good scouting staff, the Grizzlies, who have had 10 top-six picks in 14 years of existence, are at the top of the list. The team had five amateur scouts last season (I'm not calling the scouts amateurs, they scouted amateur players). Next season, Geoff Calkins of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal reports, the team will have zero scouts. Zero.

It's an unbelievable concession, even in this economy. (Insert sad trombone sound.) The Bobcats declining to assemble a summer league squad -- that's unnerving. A team like the Grizzlies decided to detonate the entire scouting staff with the playoffs nowhere in sight? That's abominable.

Of course, given that a real estate mogul, team owner Michael Heisley, makes all the basketball decisions, maybe it's just as well.

On balance, most agree the Bobcats would come out as the losers in the talent portion of the trade of Emeka Okafor to New Orleans for Tyson Chandler. Both are keystone defenders, but 'Meka is more well-rounded and (lately) more healthy. On offense, Chandler is completely single-minded, whereas Okafor holds some modicum of control over his talents in the post.

So the angle for Charlotte in making this trade would be financial. But the Bobcats take on a minor amount of extra salary the next two seasons in the deal, and now have only $25 million in salary locked up in 2011-12. Okafor wasn't exactly putting the Bobcats on the brink of the luxury tax, in other words.

But there's one more financial angle: the idea Okafor long contract presented a problem in Robert Johnson's sale of the team.

The rumored sign-and-trade sending Shawn Marion to Dallas will become official today, reports ESPN.com and the Dallas Morning News.

What had been a tricky deal between Dallas, who is apparently in BUY! BUY! BUY! mode, and Toronto, who is attempting to maximize its Hedo Turkoglu cushion, turned into a four-way ballroom dance. Orlando reportedly jumped in to get a trade exception for the loss of Hedo and Memphis will provide its usual role as facilitator.

It's been such a wild year for the Phoenix Suns that the trade deadline rumors that swirled around Amare Stoudemire almost seem like they didn't even happen. But happen they did, and the fact is that the Suns were openly trying to deal their young All-Star to anyone who would listen -- including the Memphis Grizzlies.

There were plenty of unsubstantiated rumors about where Stoudemire could possibly end up, but Memphis was apparently a legitimate possibility, at least from the Suns' standpoint. The Memphis Commercial Appeal has the details of how it all could have gone down.