Carlos Boozer's time with the Chicago Bulls appears to be over. After a down season with the team, the Bulls are looking for any way to get his salary wiped off the books in order to make a run at other free agents this summer. They have targeted Boozer as the dead weight of the team, but are hoping to get a trade deal before they are forced to amnesty him.
The Bulls have been thinking of a Boozer trade since last season, but failed to make a move at the deadline, opting to send Luol Deng packing instead. Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders is reports the Bulls are now targeting a trade with the Los Angeles Lakers involving Boozer and Steve Nash with the option of Jodie Meeks getting added in with a sign-and-trade.
Boozer will get attention from salary cap teams and the Lakers are one of them. He has one more season remaining on his contract and will be owed $16 million next season. If Chicago is smart, they take the deal. There is not guarantee that Nash plays next season. If he appears in half of the year's games, any team will likely consider that a win. But, making the deal shaves $7.1 million off the books. That is more ideal than Boozer's contract. Getting Meeks in with the deal will make up for Nash's ineffectiveness.
For Chicago, this gives the team more salary cap space to work with in order to target other free agents. Of course the team is keeping a close eye on the moves of Carmelo Anthony. They have considered re-signing Luol Deng. They could make a run at Kevin Love in a trade, but that is the most unlikely move this upcoming offseason. Boozer will be gone; it is just a matter of how the team goes about it.
Meanwhile, the Lakers get a big man to potentially replace the exit of Pau Gasol. Boozer averaged 13.7 points and 8.3 rebounds last season which is certainly not as good as what Gasol did. However, Boozer will be playing on an expiring contract and the different between him and Nash is that the center can actually still play a full season. The Lakers will have cap space to sign someone else while getting rid of the dead weight on the roster.
This trade could depend on what Gasol intends to do in free agency. The center has noted that a return to the Lakers has not yet been ruled out after Kobe Bryant offered some words of recruitment, but he also wants to play for a title contending team. Right now, that is not the Lakers. The center does favor a move to the Bulls to pair up with Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah. He has also been considering the New York Knicks and teaming back up with Phil Jackson.
