Should the Portland Trail Blazers Use Proposed Amnesty Clause on Brandon Roy?

From the day he was drafted, Brandon Roy has been the heart and soul of the Portland Trail Blazers organization. Whether it's been leading the team in scoring or being the voice in the locker room, B-Roy has undoubtedly been both the on- and off-court general of the team. But after suffering several knee injuries and undergoing several arthroscopic surgeries, the Portland Trail Blazers find themselves in quite a predicament revolving around the centerpiece of the team.

With NBA labor talks raging on, re-drafting the Amnesty Clause has been discussed as part of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. Now, for those of you who don't know, an Amnesty Clause was defined by ESPN's Marc Stein as a provision that "grants teams a one-time exception to waive a player without paying any further luxury tax on the player's contract, regardless of how long or how rich the contract is."

Unfortunately, this is the predicament the Portland Trail Blazers find themselves in. In August of 2009, Roy and the Trail Blazers agreed on a maximum contract of $82 million over five years. Shortly after, he suffered a hamstring injury that put him out for 11 games.

And then came the knee injury.

After undergoing double arthroscopic knee surgery, Roy's health for the immediate future remains in question. He's shown glimpses of the old Roy; who could forget that fourth quarter rampage he went on to get a Game 4 win over the Dallas Mavericks in the playoffs last season? But at the same time, he's been inconsistent, averaging only nine points in that same series, and only 8.4 points in February through 21.1 minutes of play.

But does that mean you cut him from the team?

Though the NBA lockout might have been a disadvantage to many players, especially the rookies, this has been nearly a blessing for a player in B-Roy's situation. Not only has he been given extra rehabilitation time, but he's got time, now, to get back into tip-top shape for whenever the season does start.

The Portland Trail Blazers should not pull the plug on the Brandon Roy project just yet. He's THE fan favorite and has been the core of the franchise since he was drafted in '06. If they can extend Greg Oden—a player who's only played 82 games in four season—a contract extension, there's no reason why they can't give Roy one more shot at redemption.

It would be a sad day in Portland if Roy was cut from the team.