|
The Woelfel World of Sports
Bucks take first step to keeping Sessions
Posted by:
gwoelfel on
June 26, 2009 at
8:36PM CST
BY GERY WOELFEL Not only did the Milwaukee Bucks add a point guard to their roster Thursday, they took a significant step toward retaining another. Before the Bucks used the 10th overall selection in the NBA draft to select 19-year-old Brandon Jennings, they extended a qualifying offer to their incumbent starting point guard Ramon Sessions. The qualifying offer was for slightly more than $1 million. Sessions, 23, earned $887,000 last season. "We expected them to do that,'' said James "Chubby'' Wells, Sessions' agent. "Now, we'll have to see how the rest of this turns out.'' Sessions will become a restricted free agent on July 1. Because the Bucks presented him with a qualifying offer, they can now match any other team's offer to Sessions and retain his services. Sessions figures to attract several courters during free agency after coming off an impressive season in which he averaged 12.4 points and 5.7 assists in 27.5 minutes a game. The prevailing feeling among NBA officials is Sessions will likely be offered a mid-level exemption, starting out at around $5.8 million in the first season. Sessions' teammate and close friend, Charlie Villanueva, will also become a restricted free agent this summer. Villanueva, 24, also figures to draw keen interest after he had a quality season as well. Villanueva averaged 16.2 points and 6.7 rebounds in 78 games last season, 47 of which he started at power forward. It is not known whether the Bucks have extended a qualifying offer to Villanueva, who made $3.4 million last season. The deadline for qualifying offers is Tuesday. Bucks general manager John Hammond has repeatedly stated he wants to keep both Sessions and villanueva. However, if either player or both of them receive much more than mid-level money, it may be difficult for the Bucks to keep them in the fold without exceeding the luxry tax threshold. Wells said Sessions would prefer to remain with the Bucks. "Ramon really likes Milwaukee,'' Wells said. "Now it's just a matter of how much they want him.''
Send This | Categories:
|
About This Blog
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() 0 rating(s)
Latest Entries
Loading...
|