6:10pm: The Warriors could be permitted to join the competition for Bogut, tweets salary cap expert Albert Nahmad. Golden State traded Bogut on July 7th of last year, and NBA rules state that players who are traded have to wait a full year before rejoining their original team. However, Bogut was traded again today, which could create a loophole to allow him to sign with the Warriors. The league could determine that Bogut can’t go to Dallas or Golden State, notes Bobby Marks of The Vertical (Twitter link), but it may also rule that the restriction only applies to the last team that traded him, which is now the Mavericks.
4:08pm: The Rockets will try to sign Andrew Bogut if he agrees to a buyout with the Sixers, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
Bogut was traded from Dallas to Philadelphia earlier today in a deal involving Nerlens Noel. The veteran center doesn’t fit into the Sixers’ plans and was acquired mainly to get Philadelphia closer to the cap floor. Buyout discussions are expected to begin immediately.
The 32-year-old is making a little more than $11MM this season in the final year of his contract. Injuries limited him to just 26 games in Dallas, where he averaged 3.0 points and 8.3 rebounds per night. He has been dealing with a strained right hamstring that sidelined him for parts of January and February.
The Rockets are well positioned for the buyout market, with more than $3.54MM in cap space available. By contrast, the pro-rated taxpayer mid-level exception is about $2.5MM and the pro-rated room MLE is roughly $2MM. “We have the most money of all the contenders,” Houston GM Daryl Morey said today in an appearance on The Vertical. (Twitter link).
The Rockets opened up cap room and two roster spots with a pair of deals today — sending K.J. McDaniels to the Nets for a future draft choice and Tyler Ennis to the Lakers in exchange for Marcelo Huertas, who is expected to be waived.
The Cavaliers have expressed an interest in Bogut, and the Spurs are expected to join the chase once the buyout is completed, according to Stein (Twitter link). Bogut had a chance to join the Rockets last summer when the Warriors gave him a list of destinations where he could be traded, but he chose Dallas instead.
Stein adds that Houston is not interested in signing point guard Deron Williams, who is negotiating a buyout with the Mavericks (Twitter link).
CAVS
If Morey wants him, Morey and the Rockets get him.
Why would he choose the Houston Rockets,who won’t beat the Warriors when he can join the defending champions! To the Cavs!
Interesting situation here with the rule interpretation.
Agreed. Depending on how the NBA rules on this could create some interesting side effects of future trades.
Biggest question is does he want to go to the Warriors ? And will he even be bought out. He has a ring with the Warriors would be boss to get one with the cavs and have one from the other side too
I can be wrong, but I think the rule states he can’t return until a year after he was traded originally from the warriors, so he wouldn’t be able to return this season even if he wanted to.
Read the article
Ya sorry I didn’t know when I posted the comment, and then a couple minutes later they posted the article, thanks though.
I’d love the celtics to pick him up
Why would anyone want him?