The Bulls have re-signed center Nazr Mohammed, the team announced (Twitter link). It’s not clear whether the 37-year-old is coming back with any guaranteed money in his contract, but Chicago almost certainly isn’t giving him more than the minimum salary he’s earned the past two seasons with the club, since that’s all the Bulls can hand out to free agents. They renounced their Early Bird rights to Mohammed in July.
It’s somewhat surprising to see Mohammed wind up back with Chicago, given the team’s beefed-up front line that includes newcomers Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic. Mohammed worked out for the Heat late last month, but there’s otherwise been little interest in the 16-year veteran. He appeared in 80 regular season games for the Bulls last season, but he averaged just 7.0 minutes per outing and totaled five minutes over two playoff appearances.
The Excel Sports Management client nonetheless maintained confidence throughout the summer that he’d find a deal, tweets K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. The question remains whether he’ll still find himself under contract come opening night. Chicago has 12 fully guaranteed deals plus a partially guaranteed arrangement with E’Twaun Moore, but the team hasn’t carried more than the NBA-minimum 13 players on opening night in any of the last three seasons.