Bulls Bid Adieu To Boozer

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jul 15, 2014 9:30PM

This is how we best want to remember Carlos Boozer: with spray-painted hair. (Photo via Buzzfeed)

With Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic in the fold it was only a matter of how, not when, Carlos Boozer’s tenure with the Bulls would end. The Bulls told Boozer and his agent, Rob Pelinka, they intend to waive Boozer via the amnesty clause in the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement Tuesday.

Boozer is owed $16.8 million next season. He signed a five-year, $75 million deal in 2010 after the Bulls failed to land Lebron James, Dwayne Wade or Chris Bosh. Boozer was a two-time All-Star with the Utah Jazz and had good offensive skills. After averaging 19.3 points and 10.5 rebounds per game in Utah, Boozer’s numbers dropped to 15.5 points and nine rebounds per game in Chicago. He also wound up riding pine late in games in favor of players who would actually put in effort on defense and never seemed to develop on-court chemistry with point guard Derrick Rose.

The amnesty clause allows teams to waive a player without having his salary count against the team’s salary cap. Once amnestied, teams submit bids to pick up the player, with the highest bid winning the player and the team waiving the player paying the balance. If no team bids on a player, he becomes an unrestricted free agent. Waiving Boozer frees up cap space for the Bulls to sign Gasol and Mirotic, as well as re-sign Kirk Hinrich to back up Rose.

Boozer took to Twitter to say goodbye to Bulls fans who are too busy cheering him out of town.