Bee: Bonzi shops the market
The bidding has started at more than $5 million, and Detroit and Denver reportedly are interested.
by Sam Amick
The bidding for Bonzi Wells has begun.
Now the wait begins to see if it becomes a bidding war.
Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie said he made an offer to Wells, the shooting guard who earned $8 million last season.
The offer -- which came on the first day in which free-agency negotiation could begin -- is believed to be for more than the midlevel exception of approximately $5 million, though the length of the offer is not known.
Wells' agent, William Phillips, did not return numerous calls for comment. Free agents cannot be signed until July 12.
"I'm not going to get in the specifics of any particular offer at this point, but we did make him a proposal," Petrie said. "I talked to William again today, briefly. It's an ongoing negotiation. That's about where it is."
The Kings went to great lengths to get their payroll under the luxury tax, finally getting there in February when they traded center Brian Skinner to Portland in the deal that brought center Vitaly Potapenko and swingman Sergei Monia to Sacramento. Should the Kings re-sign Wells, they again would be over the tax.
While Detroit and Denver reportedly hope to get Wells for the midlevel exception, there are five teams with salary cap room that could offer more. Chief among them is Charlotte, followed by Atlanta, Chicago, New Orleans and Toronto.
Petrie said Wells has unquestionable value, but it's just a question of how much value.
"We'll both keep working at it until something gets resolved," Petrie said. "And there's only three things that can happen here. He will sign with us. He will sign with something else. And there's the outside chance down the road that it gets into a sign-and-trade thing, which isn't even in the mix at the moment."
Of the less mysterious nature Saturday was the official exercise of third-year swingman Kevin Martin's team option for the 2007-08 season, in which he'll make $1.8 million. While it was believed to be official Friday, Martin had not signed the paperwork.
With roster pieces coming and potentially going, and the team focusing on Wells, Petrie said he would like to add another post player but has not yet determined how to achieve that.
"I think we want to get a clearer direction on Bonzi's situation in some ways," Petrie said. "We're certainly looking at those possibilities or options that may be out there."
He looked at those options during Wednesday's draft, exploring trades that could have landed the team a second-round player who fit a need.
"There's some guys that we liked in that second round," he said. "You're always looking at getting another opportunity or that kind of thing for a player that you like.
"We had a number of players up there that we would have had an interest in."
The free-agent market, though, lacks quality big men beyond Detroit center Ben Wallace. And especially if the Kings re-sign Wells, they may be hesitant to spend their midlevel exception as well as a separate exception worth $1.7 million.
"(Whether or not the Kings use the midlevel) is going to be a function of how things develop," Petrie said. "It's the same situation we've been in. We'd prefer to not be a tax-paying team. But for the right situation, we would be. It's just a function of how the whole thing plays out."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/14274219p-15084095c.html
