The Milwaukee Bucks have signed guard John Salmons (6-7, 210) and forward Drew Gooden (6-10, 250) to multi-year free agent contracts, General Manager John Hammond announced today. We’ll add contract details for both later today.
Last season, Salmons played in 30 games for the Bucks after a trade with Chicago on February 18. Salmons helped Milwaukee to a 22-8 record after the trade and averaged 19.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists over that span. In the seven-game first round Playoff series with Atlanta, Salmons averaged 17.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and team-highs of 4.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
An eight-year NBA veteran, Salmons, 31, has played in 610 career games (247 starts) and owns career averages of 9.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. He was drafted by San Antonio in the first round (26th overall) of the 2002 NBA Draft and traded to Philadelphia on draft night. Salmons spent four seasons (2002-06) with the 76ers before signing with Sacramento prior to the 2006-07 season. He appeared in 213 games for the Kings in two-plus seasons (2006-09) and was traded to Chicago mid-season where he helped lead the Bulls to the Playoffs.
Gooden, 29, averaged 10.9 points and 7.7 rebounds in 70 games last season for Dallas (46 games) and the Los Angeles Clippers (24 games). In 33 starts (11 – Dallas, 22 – LAC) between the two clubs, he tallied 13.7 points and 10.1 rebounds in 30.3 minutes while shooting 48.3 percent from the field and 91.8 percent from the free throw line.
The fourth overall pick by Memphis in the 2002 NBA Draft, Gooden has appeared in 580 games with 429 starts for eight NBA teams. He has averaged double figures in scoring in each of his eight NBA seasons and holds career averages of 11.9 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. Gooden has played in 44 postseason contests, including 20 in the 2007 Playoffs when the Cavaliers went to the NBA Finals.
