Bulls waive Andrew Bynum on day after trade

Andrew Bynum's next move could be to sign with the Knicks, Clippers or Heat. (Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)

In an expected move, the Chicago Bulls waived center Andrew Bynum on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after the team acquired the former All-Star in a trade that sent forward Luol Deng to the Cavaliers.

As Ben Golliver of The Point Forward writes, the Bulls will also receive draft picks in the trade, which many viewed as Chicago dumping salary and gaining future assets.

The Bulls announced the move on Tuesday. (Ken Berger of CBS Sports first tweeted the news.) The move sends Bynum to free agency, effectively making him eligible to sign with any team once he clears waivers in 48 hours.

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The cap-clearing move for Chicago allows the team to avoid paying Bynum the $6.3 million remaining on his $12.3 million partially guaranteed contract.

By getting rid of Deng, the Bulls no longer have to pay the $14.3 owed to him this season; it was reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports that Deng had rejected a $30 million contract extension from Chicago last week. The 28-year-old All-Star leaves Chicago behind only Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Bob Love for points scored in franchise history.

Bynum is reportedly drawing interest from a number of teams, including the injury-plagued New York Knicks, the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Clippers in what would likely be a veteran's minimum offer for the two-time NBA champion.

Plagued by knee injuries throughout his career, Bynum made 24 appearances for the Cavs this season, averaging 8.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 19 minutes per game.

Deng will face his old team in approximately two weeks when the Cavs host the Bulls on Jan. 22. The NBA deadline for all trades is less than a month later on Feb. 20.

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