Phoenix Suns land Luis Scola, waive Josh Childress

The Phoenix Suns have won the rights to former Houston
Rockets forward Luis Scola via an amnesty waiver claim.

The Suns reportedly outbid several teams for Scola’s
services, including the Dallas Mavericks.

According to Arizona Sports 620’s John Gambadoro, Scola’s
contract with Phoenix is for three years.

Luis Scola gets 4.1,
4.5 and 4.9 million over next three years from Suns but
only 440K is guaranteed in year 3. Nice addition for
Phoenix.

— John Gambadoro (@Gambo620) July 15,
2012

The NBA’s 30 teams were told Phoenix won the blind auction
for Scola on Sunday. To make room for Scola the Suns have
waived forward Josh Childress.

“We are excited to have won the bid for Luis Scola and to
add a player of his caliber to our roster,” said Suns
President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby in a press
release. “We greatly value the production he will bring
and the leadership he will provide to our younger players.
”

The 6-foot-9, 245-pound Argentine averaged 15.5 points and
6.4 rebounds
for the Rockets last season. The Rockets chose to utilize
their amnesty
provision to waive the remainder of Scola’s three-year,
$21 million contract.

In five years with the Rockets, Scola averaged 14.5 points
and 7.7 rebounds per game.

While Scola has been solid for Houston, Childress has had
little success since joining the Suns in 2010.

The forward appeared in just 88 games over two seasons.
The former Stanford star and Atlanta Hawks swingman was
generally a fixture on the bench in Phoenix, and
had long been rumored as a likely amnesty victim.

“We thank Josh Childress for his contributions,” Babby
said. “He is a consummate professional.”

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