Is Mark Madsen's NBA Career Over?

The Clippers waived Mark Madsen Friday, paying him his $2.8 million salary to take his hustle somewhere else. The interesting note pointed out by Steve Perrin of Clips Nation is that the team chose to waive Mad Dog over Ricky Davis, who makes $2.4 million in 2009-10, the final year of his contract. Given the reputation of each in the locker room, this move either says something about Ricky's physical condition, or Madsen's lack of basketball usefulness.

And that itself leads me to wonder whether Mad Dog's NBA career is finished. It's a tight market, as you've heard ad nauseum. Last year, Madsen only managed to get 116 minutes on a bad Wolves team. The year prior: 151 minutes. The year prior: 473 minutes. The year prior: 676 minutes. The year prior: 601 minutes. Kevin Love played more minutes in his rookie season than Madsen has in the past five seasons combined. And the Wolves weren't exactly full of talent during most of that run.

Madsen turns 34 next season, and he's never been what you would call a "good" player. He earned his Minnesota contract on the strength of his offensive rebounding and on-court ebullience. Offensive rebounding and on-court ebullience are nice -- every team should have some! -- but when combined with a distinct lack of scoring ability, ball skills and size ... he goes out of fashion quickly. As such, Madsen has gone out of style.

That doesn't mean he lacks a legacy. He has three, actually, to my mind. First, he will always be the player comp of choice when an analyst is attempting to demean the potential of a scrappy if unrefined college prospect. See: Hansbrough, Tyler.

Second, no one will soon forget the most egregious episode of tanking this world has ever seen: the night Mark Madsen helped Minnesota lose on the last day of the season by shooting seven three-pointers and 15 shots overall. He went 0-for-7 from downtown, 1-for-15 in total. Both figures were career highs in attempts. In fact, Madsen had never before taken more than one three-pointer in a game. (As punishment for this disgusting act, the Basketball Gods forced Kevin McHale to trade Brandon Roy to Portland for Randy Foye. Lesson learned.)

And finally, we will all remember Mad Dog Madsen ... are you freaking kidding me? You had to see this coming.