Livingston's contract would have become guaranteed for the rest of the season on Jan. 10, and the Heat needed to make a decision before leaving Tuesday on a seven-game road trip.

The Heat had signed Livingston to a conditional two-year contract before the season. He earned about half of the minimum salary for a player with four years experience, which equates to less than $400,000. The roster move reduces or eliminates the Heat's luxury-tax burden. The team was about $400,000 over the luxury tax before the season. The luxury-tax threshold is $71.2 million and teams pay a dollar for each dollar they exceed the threshold.

The Heat's roster now stands at 14 players, one below the league maximum. The departure of Livingston creates a roster spot for the Heat to potentially re-sign center Alonzo Mourning, who is rehabbing from surgery to repair a torn patella tendon in his right knee, or add another player. Livingston's release also makes it unlikely the Heat would waive centers Jamaal Magloire and Joel Anthony, whose contracts become guaranteed for the rest of the season Saturday.

Livingston played in only four games for the Heat, most recently for 12 minutes against the Oklahoma City Thunder Dec. 6.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra recently had been noncommittal about when Livingston might play again, saying that he would be reevaluated soon. Spoelstra repeatedly said the Heat would use a long-term approach with Livingston, the No. 4 pick in the 2004 draft, as he worked his way back from a devastating knee injury.

Livingston sustained what is believed to be the NBA's most severe knee injury on Feb. 26, 2007. Playing for the Clippers, Livingston went up for a layup and landed awkwardly. He dislocated his left knee and tore three of the four key ligaments -- the anterior cruciate, the posterior cruciate and the medial collateral. Doctors told him recovery would take at least two years.

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