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Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has waived center Zydrunas Ilgauskas after coming to a mutual agreement on a contract buyout.
According to the Washington Post, “according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations, the 7-foot-3 agreed to surrender $1.5 million in a buyout agreement with the Washington Wizards. The two sides agreed on the terms late Wednesday night, the paperwork was finalized this morning and now Ilguaskas is free to go where he pleases. Ilgauskas was acquired from Cleveland as part of a three-team trade that sent Antawn Jamison to the Cavaliers. The Wizards owed Ilgauskas nearly $3.5 million on the remainder of his $11.5 million contract and Ilgauskas also received a $600,000 trade kicker as part of the deal. But Ilgauskas spent more than one-third of that money in order to play for the team of his choice.”
“We agreed to terms with Zydrunas on a contract buyout, giving us further financial flexibility and allowing our young big men to continue to develop over the remainder of the season,” said Grunfeld.
It is widely expected that Ilgauskas may wind up re-signing with his former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, in the coming weeks.
Ilgauskas was originally acquired from the Cleveland Cavaliers along with a 2010 first round pick and the rights to Emir Preldzic as part of a three-team deal in which they also acquired Al Thornton from the Los Angeles Clippers while sending Antawn Jamison to Cleveland and Drew Gooden to Los Angeles (the Clippers sent Sebastian Telfair to Cleveland to complete the trade).
