Raymond Felton Will Plead Guilty But Is NOT Going To Jail For Gun Possession
On February 25, 2014, Raymond Felton, point guard for the New York Knicks, was arrested on three counts of criminal possession of a firearm and ammunition. At the time, there was wide-spread speculation that because of New York's mandatory minimum sentencing for gun possession, he would face at least one year in jail.
Today, Ray Felton entered into a plea agreement with a guarantee of no jail time. Under the terms of his plea, Felton will plead guilty to felony gun possession on June 30 and be sentenced to 500 hours of community service and a $5,000 fine.
Felton Faces Suspension
Felton still faces the possibility of punishment from the NBA and the New York Knicks. When David Stern was NBA Commissioner, he imposed 50 game bans on Washington Wizards teammates Gilbert Arenas and Jarvis Crittenton after each pled guilty to bringing guns into the Wizards locker room. In this case, I would expect new NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to impose a shorter suspension (10 - 20 games) because the gun at issue was not brought into the workplace.
Precedent Likely Prevents The Knicks From Terminating Felton's Contract
The New York Knicks might seek to void Felton's contract, but they would face an uphill battle. Felton is due to be paid $4.3 million for the 2014-15 season and he holds a player option to be paid $4.5 million for the 2015-16 season. Given Felton's awful performance last season, the Knicks likely would want to be rid of him. Under Section 16 of the NBA standard player contract, a team can terminate the contract of a player who:
“fails, refuses, or neglects to conform his personal conduct to standards of good citizenship, good moral character (defined here to mean not engaging in acts of moral turpitude, whether or not such acts would constitute a crime), and good sportsmanship…”
The problem for the Knicks is that NBA teams have been overturned when they have attempted to revoke player contracts in far more egregious circumstances. For example, on December 1, 1997, Latrell Sprewell of the Golden State Warriors twice attacked his coach, P.J. Carlesimo. First, Sprewell choked Carlesimo for 7-10 seconds while threatening to kill him. After being separated from his coach, showering and changing, Sprewell returned to practice and punched Coach Carlesimo. The Warriors first suspended Sprewell and later terminated his contract. That termination was overturned in arbitration as not being supported by "just cause".