Phoenix Suns land Luis Scola; Waive Josh Childress – NBA News
The Phoenix Suns have picked up former Houston Rockets forward Luis Scola in an amnesty auction, according to sources close to the situation.
Scola was amnestied by the Rockets a few days ago, which started the process of blind bids for his services. The league informed the 30 teams in the NBA on Sunday that the Suns had submitted the highest Bid for Scola and as a result,
won the rights to sign him. According to NBA rules, the minimum bid for Scola was $3 million for this year and $10 million for the upcoming years.
Scola averaged 15.5 points and 6.4 rebounds this past season for the Rockets. His three year $21 million contract was waived by them in an attempt to make cap space to sign Orlando Magic centre Dwight Howard, as the Rockets remain
locked in negotiations with the Magic management.
Scola will the latest in a line of additions by the Phoenix Suns this offseason as the franchise looks to rebuild their team in a post Steve Nash era. The Phoenix Suns traded their perennial point guard and franchise player Steve
Nash to the Los Angeles Lakers in a sign and trade deal earlier this month, signalling that they were now looking into the future with a different strategy in mind. Since letting Nash go, the Suns have acquired free agent point guard Goran Dragic for a $34
million deal, and also picked up forward Michael Beasley on an $18 million contract.
On the other hand, the Suns used their amnesty clause on forward Josh Childress on Sunday. Childress had 3 years remaining on his contract worth $21 million, which will now be off the Suns books. The addition of Scola will strengthen
the Suns front court, as the Argentinean is a prolific scorer and powerful option on the glass.
The Rockets still remain locked up in trade talks with the Orlando Magic for centre Dwight Howard. However, by aggressively pursuing Howard, they have put themselves in a do or die situation, as they have let go their star players,
one by one.
They had earlier let go of point guard Goran Dragic and then traded Kyle Lowry, though free agent point guard Jeremy Lin is likely on the way in.
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