Bucks lose Pachulia
Zaza Pachulia is now an Atlanta Hawk.
Pachulia, who played power forward and center for the Milwaukee Bucks last season, joined the Hawks Monday after the Bucks declined to match the Hawks' four-year, $16 million offer sheet.
"We've exercised our option not to match the offer,'' Bucks general manager Larry Harris told me after a press conference at the Cousins Center in St. Francis when the Bucks introduced free-agent signee Bobby Simmons to the media. "Zaza's going to Atlanta.
"I had an opportunity to talk to Zaza five days ago and he said he wanted to play more and get more minutes. I couldn't promise him we could do that for him.
"You have to make tough decisions in this business, and this was one of them.''
Pachulia, 20, showed nice promise in his second pro season. After playing in 59 games and averaging 3.3 points and 2.9 rebounds as a rookie for Orlando, Pachulia played in 74 games for the Bucks last season, averaging 6.2 points and 5.1 rebounds.
With the addition of Simmons, who was the NBA's Most Improved Player last season with the Los Angeles Clippers, and top draft choice Andrew Bogut, Pachulia's playing time wouldn't have increased significantly, if at all.
The Bucks' decision to let Pachulia walk will likely save the Bucks several million dollars over the next two years. If the Bucks had retained Pachulia, they would have had to pay a "luxury'' tax of around $3 million to the league this season. But since they will now be under the luxury tax threshold, the Bucks, under the league's revenue-sharing plan, are expected to receive several million dollars back from the league over the next two years.
