Van Horn is prime example of working the system

Do you ever wish you could make $4.3 million for doing next to nothing?

Ask Keith Van Horn, he might be able to help you.

Van Horn, the semi-retired forward whose rights are still retained by the Dallas Mavericks, may be the key to completing a trade that would send Jason Kidd to Dallas from the New Jersey Nets.

The trade, which nearly was dead because of Devean George's refusal to be traded and then Jerry Stackhouse's mouth, is alive again according to ESPN.

Props go to Van Horn. At the most, he will probably have to fly to New Jersey, take a physical, and maybe show up at practice. And for his troubles, New Jersey will pay him approximately $4.3 million.

Earlier this month, Aaron McKie was dealt in a much similar fashion. The Lakers traded McKie, who was then a volunteer assistant on the Philadelphia 76ers coaching staff, to the Memphis Grizzlies as part of the package that brought Pau Gasol to Los Angeles. Reportedly, McKie will make up to $750,000 more than the $7 million he was already being paid through an old contract.

Though McKie has decided to stay with the Grizzlies as a player/coach, it is possible that Van Horn could be released immediately after joining the Nets. He would then be paid for the rest of the year.

I sure wish I could find someone to pay me $4.3 million to take a physical. I spend enough time around the dorm tossing out ideas to make a little cash here and there, and yet none of those ideas seem feasible. I guess I just need to learn how to work the system.

Thanks to this awesome loophole, players like Van Horn and McKie get to increase their already large wealths. And I say, who can blame them?