5:08pm: Count the Celtics, Nets and Clippers among the frontrunners to acquire Milicic, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter).
SATURDAY, 4:15pm: Milicic has cleared waivers and is now an unrestricted free agent, ESPN.com's Marc Stein reports (Twitter link).
THURSDAY, 11:55pm: The Timberwolves have officially waived Milicic and designated him as their amnestied player, the team announced (via Twitter). Teams with cap space can place bids on Darko, starting at a minimum of about $2.5MM, according to SI.com's Zach Lowe (via Twitter). If he goes unclaimed, he'll become an unrestricted free agent.
8:42am: The Timberwolves will begin clearing cap space for their offseason moves by using the amnesty provision on Darko Milicic, reports ESPN.com's Ric Bucher. The move had been widely anticipated, based on the T-Wolves' reported agreements with free agents, including Nicolas Batum, Brandon Roy, and Alexey Shved.
Milicic, 27, was acquired by Minnesota prior to the 2010 trade deadline, and was re-signed by the team during the following offseason. However, he failed to hit his stride with the Timberwolves, despite receiving 92 starts in the last two seasons. Over the last two years, Milicic has averaged 7.6 points and 4.7 rebounds in 22 minutes per contest. While he has close to $11MM remaining on the final two years of his deal, his salary for 2013/14 is only partially guaranteed. The T-Wolves will clear about $5.1MM from their cap by amnestying him this week.
Even after amnestying Milicic, the T-Wolves will still need to make more moves to clear the necessary cap room for their signings. As I wrote last week, it's possible that the team will have to trade a player or two. According to Bucher, the Wolves have engaged in talks to acquire Batum in exchange for multiple first-round picks, and have talked about acquring Kyle Korver for a second-rounder.
—–
I’m going to throw a “Darko’s Gone!” party. Finally!
i wonder who will take a chance on him next… wouldnt it be crazy if he ended up in miami .. then htey would have james,wade,darko,bosh all from the same draft.
That might not be a bad idea, to be honest. They do need a Center, and while he’s far from dominant, he might work as a defensive guy off the bench. Decent rebounder, pretty good shot blocker. If they can get him for the minimum, he may be a nice addition.