Metta World Peace seems to be taking the amnesty talk in stride, random-Twitter-nonsense-wise

Dan Devine
·Senior NBA writer

After Dwight Howard chose to join up with the Houston Rockets, NBA observers across the land wondered what would come next for a Los Angeles Lakers team that found itself suddenly reliant on bounce-back seasons from Pau Gasol and Steve Nash to even tread water in a treacherous Western Conference while waiting on Kobe Bryant to come all the way back from a torn Achilles tendon. The answer, in the short term, was apparently, "Sign Chris Kaman."

But while importing another big man at a pretty affordable price tag's fine and all, the Lakers still profile as a very expensive team that doesn't look championship-competitive but will face another whopper of a luxury tax bill come the end of next season ... unless, of course, Mitch Kupchak and company can find a way to jettison a big chunk of salary to chop down the eventual tax damage. This, of course, led to speculation and eventual reports that the Lakers would use the amnesty provision in the NBA's collective bargaining agreement to strike the $7.7 million owed to small forward Metta World Peace from the balance sheet.

The move would upset Ron-Ron and Kobe without making the Lakers any better on the court, but would save them just under $14.4 million, according to salary cap wizard Larry Coon. L.A. doesn't have to make a definite decision right away — the window in which NBA teams can choose to invoke the amnesty clause runs from July 10 through July 16 — but, if nothing else, it's something they have to consider. And as long his future employment's being discussed, apparently, Metta's going to have fun with it on his Twitter account.

(As an aside: Hey, fledgling pick-up artists? Please sidle up to your attempted conquest of choice and ask him/her to amnesty his/her jeans, then report your findings back to us. Thanks.)

This is, as you probably know, par for the course with MWP — he uses Twitter for all sorts of nonsensical purposes, like wishing everyone a happy Labor Day on Memorial Day, pretending he's going to film a reality show with Terrell Owens and "explaining" why he repeatedly called himself "too sexy for his cat" in an interview. He just likes to have fun and make jokes, just like most of the rest of us on Twitter. Sure, sometimes they're less "jokes" than "lies" or "stream-of-consciousness strands of absurdism," but hey, to each their own. We can unfollow at any time if we'd like.

In the meantime, like the rest of us, World Peace waits to find out if the Lakers will decide to part ways with him. If they do, and if he clears amnesty waivers, he could find a suitor in his hometown — Yahoo! Sports NBA columnist Marc J. Spears reported Tuesday that the New York Knicks might have interest in the former Ron Artest if they could snag him on a veteran's minimum contract post-amnesty. The mind races at the possible Twitter gooves Metta might deploy should such a full-circle signing come to pass.

Hat-tip to Dom Cosentino at Deadspin.