Baron Davis to the Heat: How the Cavs Point Guard Can Land in Miami

Baron Davis has been mentioned as a potential amnesty clause casualty for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Although the NBA lockout remains in full effect, the league and the NBPA have been able to agree on certain items which will be included in a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, and one of those items is the inclusion of an amnesty provision.

The clause will be a one-time tool for teams to cut a player without having his salary count against the luxury tax, and that's largely due to the fact that there are several overpaid players throughout the league hampering some teams from being more competitive.

Cleveland is clearly rebuilding for the future, and after drafting point guard Kyrie Irving first overall in 2011, there's no reason to be paying Davis $28,800,000 over the next two seasons.

That's right, the Cavs have the opportunity to wipe nearly $30 million off of the slate by cutting loose Davis.

But will the team be giving LeBron's newest team an advantage by doing so?

How It Could Happen: Amnesty Clause Casualty

Davis is the second-highest paid player currently on the Cleveland roster, sandwiched in between Antawn Jamison's expiring deal ($15,076,715) and Anderson Varejao ($7,700,000).

With Davis' slated salary of $13,950,000, that pits him much closer to Jamison, and the idea that a 19-win team can have $36,726,715 tied up in those three players right now is absolutely insane.

Cleveland needs to escape at least one of those deals, and with only Varejao looking like he'll be of any use long-term for the team, Davis is a logical candidate to be cut via the amnesty clause.

Some might argue for Jamison to get the axe, but with just a single year remaining on his contract, he could actually prove to have some salvageable value on the trade market.

Should Davis indeed be given the opportunity to hit free agency, he'd be able to sign in Miami for an unbelievable discount, and he certainly doesn't need any sort of lucrative pay day for his next contract.

To date, the veteran has earned $117,590,802 in his career, and it's hard to imagine he's looking for big bucks as his priority at this point.

How Davis Fits with the Heat

The Miami Heat struggled to find production from the point guard position all season during the first year of the "big three" being together.

Whether it was Carlos Arroyo, Mike Bibby or Mario Chalmers logging serious minutes, the team really came up short in that department, and that's an issue that needs to be corrected for the long haul.

While Davis may not be the player he was at one point in his career anymore, he's proven that he can still be a very productive contributor, and his sole role for the Heat would be to facilitate the flow rather than be a source of offensive production.

He's got legitimate playmaking skills if surrounded by the right cast, and the arrival of Davis could be very beneficial for both Dwyane Wade and LeBron James if Davis were to be signed by Miami.

Chances of Heat Winning a Championship with Davis

Miami reached the championship round last season with poor play from the point guard position, so just imagine what might be possible if Davis were to be added to the mixture.

There's no reason to believe that the Heat won't be atop the Eastern Conference for years to come assuming the entire group stays healthy, and adding Davis to an already talented group would put the team firmly in the driver's seat to be the favorite for the crown.

He's yet to win a ring during his career, so Davis would have every motivation to stay in better shape than he's shown previously, and he wouldn't have the chance to fall back on a cushy contract as he has in the past.

When he's playing with the proper motivation, Davis has shown on multiple instances that he can still be a very effective starting point guard in this league, and his numbers are only likely to rise playing alongside Wade, James and Bosh.

We saw how exciting he could be when he was tossing alley-oop passes to Blake Griffin in Los Angeles, so what could he do with James and Wade running the wing on a fast break?

Chances of Davis Winding Up in Miami

Current Chances: 45 percent

ESPN's Marc Stein reported that Davis' new preferred landing spots may be the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers should he be released, but that doesn't mean those are the only teams he could join.

The Knicks already have a veteran point guard in Chauncey Billups, and with both Iman Shumpert and Toney Douglas sitting behind him, there may not be room for Davis to join.

As far as what's happening out in Los Angeles with the Lakers, there's no question that the team really needs an upgrade at the point guard spot.

The Lakers would probably love to have the ability to make Davis a part of the team, but he'd have to play for the veteran's minimum, and at that point, Miami could offer just as much in terms of money and arguably a better shot at a title.

He's the clear candidate to be cut loose via the amnesty clause for the Cavs, and there are going to be a number of competitive clubs in need of point guard help looking to sign him.

However, Miami has two things that no other team does.

Two of the top five players in the league.