Bucks Sign Gary Neal

JULY 30TH, 4:05pm: The Bucks have officially signed Neal, the team announced today (Twitter link).

JULY 27TH, 4:31pm: Bonuses could push the value of Neal's contract to $7MM, TNT's David Aldridge reports (on Twitter).

3:42pm: Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com tweets that the full value of the deal is $6.5MM (hat tip to RealGM.com), which makes a little more sense, considering San Antonio's reluctance to re-sign Neal. If Arnovitz is correct, the Bucks will have to use cap room rather than their room exception.

2:53pm: The Bucks have agreed to sign Gary Neal to a two-year contract worth more than $3MM, a source tells Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter link). Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported earlier today that the sides were nearing a deal. It appears that the Spurs withdrew their qualifying offer to Neal, so that allows Milwaukee to sign the combo guard outright without having to wait three days to find out whether the Spurs match. Neal's contract will be fully guaranteed, USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt tweets.

The David Falk client was reportedly likely to re-sign with the Spurs at one point this month, but a deal with San Antonio never materialized. The Bucks were one of four teams with interest in Neal, who was receiving offers that the Spurs were reluctant to match, prompting GM R.C. Buford and company to sign Marco Belinelli.

The Bucks can absorb Neal's contract into either their room exception, which allows a starting salary of $2.652MM, or their plentiful cap space. Bringing Neal aboard doesn't figure to have much affect on the team's negotiations with Brandon Jennings, since Milwaukee can go over the cap to re-sign him.

View Comments (0)