This isn’t a surprise. With Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic coming in, Carlos Boozer was on his way out in Chicago.
After failing to find a suitable sign-and-trade, the Bulls ownership bit the bullet and told Carlos Boozer that he would be amnestied on Tuesday, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
Chicago informed Carlos Boozer and his agent, Rob Pelinka, this morning that it would use amnesty clause today, source tells Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 15, 2014
To be clear, Boozer still gets paid the $16.8 million he is owed for this season, it just doesn’t count against the Bulls’ official team books. That allows them to add better players at the four.
Now the bidding process for Boozer’s services begins.
Under the NBA’s system Boozer’s contract is now put out to bid and teams under the salary cap can enter a blind bid, with the team putting in the highest bid (over a minimum of $1.4 million) can get his services. For example, if a team under the cap bid $2 million and that was the highest bid, that team would pay Boozer $2 million for the season (and the Bulls would pay the remaining $14.8 million).
If no teams bid, Boozer becomes a free agent. But that’s not likely.
Plenty of teams with salary cap space, but two early favorites to make bids on Carlos Boozer: Charlotte and Atlanta.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 15, 2014
Boozer would bring those teams some good depth up front at a fair price — he averaged 13.7 points and 8.7 rebounds a game last season, and while he wasn’t efficient doing that (.489 true shooting percentage) nor does he play much defense, he is a solid backup. Especially for just a few million dollars.
But in Chicago, it was time to move on.
