He can rebound, score, pass, defend. You would think a half-dozen teams would be actively chasing Anthony Mason. You would think he would command a pretty big paycheck.

	The luxury cap is putting the squeeze on Anthony Mason's options.

You would be wrong.

Only a few months after completing a superlative season in Miami, Mase is looking for work, hoping to catch the middle-class salary exception and running out of chances.

"Oh, somebody will sign Mason," one Eastern Conference general manager said.

Somebody? It will have to be a team that not only has retained its $4.5 million exception but also is willing to spend it. That's the rub.

Of the 24 teams that were capped July 18 and eligible to use the mid-class exception, only 13 have exercised the option. Of the 13, only six spent the entire block on a single player. Of the remaining 11 teams, only Milwaukee and Philadelphia appear to have any interest in a 34-year-old forward with combustible tendencies. And while Mason is a tough guy to handle, the Bucks' George Karl and the Sixers' Larry Brown have never backed away from players with strong personalities.

Both are on the fringe of the payroll tax and neither appear willing to add salary, but might be willing to deal for Mason, dollar for dollar. The problem here: Pat Riley is looking to dump salary in Miami. The Heat payroll is $50.5 million without unsigned free agents Mason and Tim Hardaway. If Miami accepts a $3.2 million exception and deals Hardaway to Dallas, then anything it takes back for Mason puts the team over the tax line.

"Something will get done," Mason's agent, Don Cronson, said last week. "But it's just a lot more difficult now. There are some teams that have decided, 'We're not going $1 over the luxury tax,' " Cronson said. "In the past, teams would be flexible. Now everyone is saying, 'My owner told me. . . ..'"

The GM says, "Owners are very clear on the subject. They don't want to pay the tax. It's one thing when you're taking a chance on a player who may get you over the top, but when you are paying millions and getting nothing in return, it's time to stop. The tax is the first effective measure against spending since I came into the league 20 years ago."

Mark the tax as another blow to the credibility of players association executive director Billy Hunter, out-flanked, out-smarted and over-powered by David Stern.

Mark the tax as the bane of agents and players like Mason, who are below the superstar class but thought they would be cashing in.

Who would have thought that mid-August would find a Mason, a Tim Hardaway or a Marc Jackson standing in line, waiting for crumbs -- very nice crumbs by your standard and mine -- to fall from the paymaster's table.

Mason, for example, did everything right on the court last season after being reunited with Riley in the Eddie Jones trade. With Alonzo Mourning missing most of the year, Mason averaged 16.1 points, 9.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists in playing an average of 40.7 minutes a night. Mason shot 48 percent from the field and 78 percent from the line. Rehabilitating his reputation, Mason was named to the Eastern Conference All-Star team, the oldest first-time All-Star in 44 years.

Of course, there's the other side of Mason.

"I love Mase," says a writer who covered him in New York. "Truly, I love the guy. But I can't understand him half the time. He has this knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and I don't know if it ever changes."

There was the Mase who was in a limo with teenage girls, 14 and 15, during All-Star weekend 1998 in New York and later accused of statutory rape, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of children. He pleaded guilty to endangering -- prosecutors dropped the more serious charges -- and was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service for the homeless.

There was the Mase who last summer was charged by New Orleans police with hitting a police officer, public drunkenness and inciting a riot on Bourbon Street, but that was dismissed.

There was the Mase who was charged with third degree assault after a 4 a.m. brawl outside a Harlem night spot. Let us not forget the Times Square arrest five years ago -- assault, menacing, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest at 2:40 a.m.

So, we are not talking here about an individual of unblemished reputation, but his agent says Mason's off-court conduct is not the reason he is unemployed with training camp seven weeks away.

"Of all the factors, that's the last factor on the list," Cronson said. "Before any of those issues, the home team not signing him and the iron limitations of the luxury tax have hurt him more than anything else."

And morality aside, Mason is a guy who could at least gently tip the balance of power in the East.

The Sixers need a low post scorer and rebounder if they are going to make a second title run. You can't look at Mason's standing as a point forward for Don Nelson, his superlative numbers in 1997-98 -- 16.2 points, 11.4 rebounds, 5.7 assists -- and not believe he would be a vital link in Philly.

Same for the Bucks, who are all perimeter. Mason playing an inside-outside game with Sam Cassell, Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson could well move that team ahead of the pack.

But there is this matter of a dollar for dollar tax and a hard line against paying it. So, Anthony Mason waits.

Jeffrey Denberg, who covers the NBA for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.