The two-time all-star, Power forward Carlos Boozer is set to be amnestied by the Chicago Bulls this offseason as reported by Joe Cowley of the Chicago-Sun Times.
Officially, the Bulls still have several weeks to decide if they want to invoke the amnesty provision for Carlos Boozer.
But they don’t need it.
A source said Wednesday that Boozer’s departure is a “done deal,” adding that Boozer’s camp already has been informed.
There haven’t been any takers on a sign-and-trade for Boozer, and the Bulls also want the money to go in a different direction, whether Carmelo Anthony is in the mix or not.
Boozer will be dropped by Chi-Town under the amnesty provision. Boozer will be paid the $16.8 million dollars he’s owed for next season, but it won’t count against the Bulls salary cap and he is free to sign with any team once this clears the league office.
This move seems to be very specific to the Bulls plans to bring in Carmelo Anthony to the red and black, clearing out some cap space to have the Former scoring champion join Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah in the “Windy City”. Backup plans for the Bulls included Trevor Ariza but looking at the way Melo is very quick to visit many teams before July 10th, it seems like the Bulls won’t be waiting very long for an answer from Melo.
Boozer got a max contract in the summer of 2010. At one time, he was heavily considered to be the Knicks top candidate until Amar’e Stoudemire expressed his interest in New York.
Averaging 15.6 points per game, 9 rebounds per game to go with an average of 70 games played and 30.4 minutes per game will get boozer some looks from other NBA teams but the judge is still out if he will get the max deal he got with Chicago.
Boozer is 32 going on 33 in November so I don’t think a team will shell out a ton of money for him, but he will get interest. Whether it is from a contender or not is still up for debate but I believe Boozer is very hungry for a ring and soon.
