Tim Hardaway may be a victim of economics. Kyle Ringo of the Rocky mountain News reports that unless a trade can be worked out, chances are Hardaway will be waived by the Nuggets today.

The veteran point guard, obtained in a trade last season with the Dallas Mavericks, has a clause in his contract that allows the team to pay him $1 million this summer to be free of the final two years of his $11.3 million deal. The deadline to take advantage of the buyout clause is today.

Hardaway is due to make $3.7 million next season, so by going ahead with the buyout, Denver would save $2.7 million toward next season's total team salary. That would give the club a little flexibility in trying to sign free agents this summer. The team is expected to be near the luxury tax threshold next season.

Nuggets GM Kiki Vanderwege refused to confirm the teams? plan. "We're going to wait until (today), see how the draft shapes up and look at all our options," Vandeweghe said.

If Hardaway is bought out, it would be the third time in two years that Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke has doled out cash to players on their way out of the organization. Kroenke paid guard Cory Alexander $7.5 million in a contract buyout before the 2000-01 season. The owner also paid former coach Dan Issel about $4 million when Issel resigned in the middle of last season.

Ultimately, the Nuggets lose nothing by paying Hardaway the buyout, because they received $1 million in cash from the Mavericks in the trade for the aging guard.

"I think he really would like to have a realistic shot at a (championship) ring," agent Henry Thomas said of Hardway. "That's something that really does drive him as it does most guys who have been at it as long as he has without a ring." Hardaway probably would be more attractive to other teams once he is free of his current contract, which makes a trade unlikely.