Bucks' Jefferson headed to Spurs
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The Milwaukee Bucks plan to trade scoring forward Richard Jefferson to the San Antonio Spurs for Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto, a Bucks official with knowledge of the deal said yesterday.
The Bucks would then send Oberto to Detroit for forward Amir Johnson, the official said.
The trades will give the Bucks more financial flexibility, the Spurs a proven scorer, and the Pistons a veteran big man at a lower cost than Johnson.
The Bucks are sending Jefferson away less than a year after acquiring him in a draft day trade last season with New Jersey for Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons. Jefferson’s contract has two years and $29.2 million remaining.
Spurs guard Tony Parker said he would welcome a big, athletic player like Jefferson.
“He’s a great wing,’’ Parker said. “It’s something we don’t have on our team.’’
Jefferson became the Bucks’ biggest offensive threat after Michael Redd and Andrew Bogut suffered season-ending injuries, but the Bucks’ tight financial situation made a move necessary. Milwaukee does not want to pay the NBA’s luxury tax, which last year hit teams dollar-for-dollar once they reach $71.15 million in total payroll.
Redd, Bogut and Jefferson are scheduled to make more than $41 million combined this season.
The Timberwolves would receive Etan Thomas, Oleksiy Pecherov, and Darius Songaila, and the deal would leave them with the fifth (Washington’s pick) and sixth (their own) choices in the draft. The website cited unidentified sources.
The Bobcats decided not to make a one-year qualifying offer of $3.7 million to May, who has appeared in only 82 of a possible 328 games since being the 13th pick in the 2005 draft.
Plagued first by chronic knee pain that led to microfracture surgery, May struggled to get into proper playing shape last season for coach Larry Brown, who refused to play the 6-9 power forward for long stretches until he lost weight.
