Milwaukee Bucks Amnesty Drew Gooden
By Ben Beecken
The Milwaukee Bucks have officially amnestied forward Drew Gooden. The deadline for each team to use their one and only amnesty clause is midnight this evening, so it’s certainly possible that we’ll hear of some more moves in the coming hours.
Gooden had two years and $13.4 million remaining on his contract. He was actually solid in his first two seasons in Milwaukee, but played in just 16 games for the Bucks in 2012-13 and was horrific when he saw the court. Gooden is now on waivers, but assuming nobody claims him (they won’t), he’ll become an unrestricted free agent, just like Metta World Peace did before he signed with the New York Knicks today.
It’ll be interesting to see what the Bucks decide what to do with their new-found cap space, as it is fairly clear that Brandon Jennings won’t be returning to the team, and may in fact be involved in a sign-and-trade with the Detroit Pistons.
It’s anyone’s guess where Gooden will end up, but he’s still just entering his age-32 season and if he stays healthy, he can be of use to a contender as a fourth big off the bench. Amazingly, whichever organization picks him up will be the University of Kansas product’s ninth squad.