When Will The Chicago Bulls Amnesty Carlos Boozer?

By Jason Fryer

As the summer goes on, each diehard Bulls fan asks the same question: When will the Chicago Bulls Amnesty Carlos Boozer? Unfortunately for a number of Bulls fans, I feel it'll be a couple of years until the Bulls amnesty their starting Power Forward.

Carlos Boozer has been with the Bulls for the past two seasons and was one of only three players on the Bulls roster to play in all 66 games last year. At the same time, a number of the key games that the Bulls were involved in saw Carlos Boozer struggle and not able to provide them with the production they expected to receive from their second highest paid player.

2012-2013 Chicago Bulls: For the upcoming season, the Bulls are one of the many franchises that's over the soft cap and on the verge of going over the hard cap. If Chicago was to exceed the hard cap, then the Bulls would have to pay a penalty to the NBA for each dollar they were over the Luxury Tax. With the current 2012-2013 payroll just up against the hard cap, the Bulls decided to transform their bench by only bring back Taj Gibson and Jimmy Butler from last year.

So will Boozer be amnestied before the start of this season?

NO! Why? Because the deadline to amnesty a player for the 2012-2013 has come and gone so the Bulls won't amnesty Boozer this year.

What About Amnestying Boozer for the 2013-2014 Season?

May 10, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Thaddeus Young (21) guards Chicago Bulls power forward Carlos Boozer (5) during the 1st half of game six in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals of the 2012 NBA Playoffs at Wells Fargo Center. Photo Courtesy By Eric Hartline-US PRESSWIRE.

2013 Offseason: The 2013-2014 Chicago Bulls will feature a roster that'll include 4 players making over $12 million per season (and a possibile new contract for Taj Gibson), Kirk Hinrich, and a few other players on rookie contracts. Because of this, I feel the Bulls will look to keep Carlos Boozer for another season and not amnesty him for the 2013-2014 NBA season. Along those lines, I don't feel the Bulls front office will want to pay Carlos Boozer $32 Million over 2 years to not play for this team.

As for the Following Offseason...

2014 offseason: Bulls fans, this is when I feel the organization will look to use their one (and only) amnesty clause on Carlos Boozer. During the summer of 2014, Chicago should have great deal of cap space (Luol Deng's set to be a free agent following the 2014 season), which would intrigue the Bulls to amnesty Carlos Boozer one season prior to fulfilling his final contractual season. If Chicago decides to amnesty Boozer, allow Deng to leave via Free Agency, and resign Taj Gibson to a backloaded contract, then the Bulls could rebuild their core around Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, and another elite player.

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