FanHouse ShareefAbdur Rahim

Shareef Abdur-Rhahim officially announced his retirement today, prompting fans outside of Sacramento to stop and ask themselves, "Wait, Shareef Abdur-Rahim was still playing?" Well, not really; he was limited to just six games last year before undergoing surgery on his right knee. Unfortunately, nearly a year later, his knee still wouldn't cooperate. From Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee:

"I've been in a situation where I've been trying to get healthy over the last year and a half," Abdur-Rahim said in a statement. "I came to grips with the fact that, health-wise, I won't be able to get back to the condition and level that is needed to play in the NBA. My right knee has become arthritic over the years and is to the point where it won't allow me to do the things and play at the level in which I'm accustomed to playing. As tough as it is to come to grips with, it's the reality."

My guess is that Abdur-Rahim is receiving some kind of medical settlement -- he was due a combined $12.8 million over this season and next, and people just don't walk away from that kind of money. That said, it doesn't appear the Kings will see any salary cap relief until next summer.

In any case, Abdur-Rahim retires as one of the most underrated players of his era. By the time he made his first and only All-Star game in 2002, he'd already won an Olympic gold medal in Sydney two years earlier. All told he probably should have made five or six All-Star teams, but anonymity was the price he paid for playing on some truly awful teams -- he set the NBA record by appearing in 744 regular season games before playing his first playoff game in 2006.

Veteran power forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim isn't playing much under Reggie Theus. The Magic need some skilled size. Abdur-Rahim's agent is Aaron Goodwin, who also just happens to represent Dwight Howard. And Orlando went after Reef hard when he was a free agent. Seems like a match made in heaven, or at least a realistic rumor.

From Florida Today's John Denton:

To acquire a player such as Abdur-Rahim, the Magic would likely have to trade one of their expiring contracts. Carlos Arroyo ($4 million), Pat Garrity ($3.8 million) or Keyon Dooling ($3.5 million) might appeal to the Kings because of their desire to slash payroll. And Arroyo and Dooling could come in especially handy to the Kings, who are already without Mike Bibby because of a torn ligament in his thumb.

The thing is, expiring contracts are arguably the NBA's most valuable commodity. Abdur-Rahim makes around $6 million a year, and the Magic have a $2.6 million exception for the injured Tony Battie. Shareef's kind of a bargain, and Orlando would still have some flexibility. But with the monster contracts of Howard and Rashard Lewis on the books, this franchise can't afford a misstep. Looking down the road, they need all the financial leeway they can get.

OK, so if the Bulls can't pull off a deal for Pau Gasol (absolutely nothing will surprise me on that front), the Bull still have to make some kind of deal, right? Right?

Ben Wallace is not the player he was just a year ago, and you have to figure a guy whose skill-set is entirely dependent on his athleticism might won't decline gracefully. As Skeets said earlier this week, the moment the Bulls decided to give the guy $60 million, they basically committed themselves to trying to win a title before Wallace's contract went from being "slightly above market value" to "albatross around team's neck."

Of course, there's also something to be said about not wanting to give away Ben Gordon, Luol Deng or Kirk Hinrich -- if those guys are really the team's core, they'll be around longer than Wallace, anyway. That's why the Daily Herald suggests a cheaper alternative to Gasol, Sacramento's Shareef Abdul-Rahim:

The 6-9 Abdur-Rahim, 30, used to be a consistent 20-point scorer for the Vancouver Grizzlies early in his career. This year he's averaging 10.1 points and 5.2 rebounds for the Kings, who are barely alive in the Western Conference playoff race and may not mind trimming payroll.

A combination of Michael Sweetney and Malik Allen, along with presumably a draft pick, would match salaries. Abdur-Rahim has three years left on his contract at a total of $18.6 million.

His production has slipped, but you can't argue with the price, and his salary isn't so prohibitive that he'd prevent the team from locking up any of their current young players to new deals when their contracts expire. And when the time comes for Tyrus Thomas to push him to the bench, he could settle into a similar role as Antonio McDyess in Detroit as the first big man off the bench.