Bucks rescind qualifying offer; Jabari Parker joins Chicago Bulls

Jabari Parker's time with the Milwaukee Bucks came to an end on Saturday.

The restricted free agent signed a two-year, $40 million contract with the Chicago Bulls after negotiating with the Bucks on an agreement for the team to rescind their qualifying offer, thus making him an unrestricted free agent.

“Jabari and I felt it was in the best interest of both he and the team to rescind our qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent,” general manager Jon Horst said in a statement. “We appreciate everything Jabari has brought to our team and our community over the last four years and we wish him well.”

As a restricted free agent, the Bucks had the ability to match any offer that came Parker's way. However, with their tight salary cap situation, the Bucks would be hard-pressed to match Chicago's offer of $20 million per year.

While exploring all the possible options including sign-and-trades, which have to be three-year contracts with the first year guaranteed, Milwaukee did not rescind their qualifying offer — a one-year, $4.3 million slotted deal extended before free agency — by Friday's deadline. That deadline allows teams to unilaterally rescind a qualifying offer as opposed to needing a player's consent after it.

But it ultimately became clear the Bulls were going to sign Parker to an offer sheet that the Bucks had no plan to match. Milwaukee agreed to work with Parker and his agent, Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports & Entertainment, in good faith to help Parker get the kind of terms he was looking for with the Bulls.

The end result was Parker got his deal, which includes a team option on the second year. This type of deal could not have been done if the Bucks had maintained their qualifying offer since offer sheets have to be for at least two years and those two years cannot include options.

Instead of a non-guaranteed second season, Parker instead got a team option, which he preferred. This situation allows Parker and the Bulls to potentially work on a long-term extension if things work out next season as opposed to a non-guaranteed deal where the Bulls could only choose to keep or waive him.

To the Bucks, the difference is immaterial. They weren't going to match the offer so they chose to act in Parker's best interest, allowing him to potentially make more money down the road instead of inhibiting his earning potential.

“Jabari and I express our sincere gratitude to Jon Horst and Bucks owners Marc Lasry, Wes Edens and Jamie Dinan for working side-by-side with us throughout the free agency period,” Bartelstein said in a statement.

“From the moment the Bucks drafted Jabari with the No. 2 pick in the 2014 draft, they have gone out of their way to treat Jabari as a member of the Bucks family, and this is another perfect example of doing exactly that, and we’re very appreciative.”

Parker ends his tenure with the Bucks having played just 183 games. His time in Milwaukee was marred by a twice-torn left anterior cruciate ligament, which kept him from making the kind of impact that was expected when he joined the team to much acclaim in 2014.

He averaged 15.3 points 5.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game while shooting 49.0% from the field and 35.2% from the three-point line.

“I am extremely grateful to the Bucks and the incredible fans of Milwaukee for showing me so much love and encouragement,” Parker said. “Specifically, I’d like to thank Jon, Marc, Wes and Jamie for giving me my start in the NBA and supporting me throughout my career.

“Thank you to my teammates for being like brothers to me. Also, the medical and performance staff led by Troy Flanagan and Suki Hobson deserve my unending thanks for their dedication in helping me get stronger and healthier every day.”

Parker's exit leaves the Bucks with 13 players on the roster, including Brandon Jennings and Tyler Zeller who are on non-guaranteed contracts. Ersan Ilyasova and Brook Lopez are expected to make their contracts official soon as well, with Ilyasova due to join the team on a three-year, $21 million contract (the third year is a team option) using the mid-level exception and Lopez will be on a one-year deal worth about $3.4 million using the bi-annual exception.

Those deals will put the Bucks at about $116 million in salary, which is about $14 million over the salary cap and about $7.7 million under the luxury-tax threshold. If the Bucks want to add any new free agents, they would have to waive one of their non-guaranteed players or make a trade. As a team over the cap and out of exceptions, the Bucks can only sign new free agents to minimum deals.

Milwaukee's reported agreements with Ilyasova and Lopez made it fairly clear that the Bucks would be unable to re-sign Parker if a team came forward with a high enough offer. The Bucks opted to prepare for that possibility and let the market decide what would happen next. If Parker slipped through restricted free agency without an offer sheet, the Bucks could have opted to keep him or he could have decided to stay in Milwaukee on his qualifying offer.

But that's not what happened. The Bulls, through a series of minor moves, created enough cap space to offer a contract the Bucks would not match. 

After four years in Milwaukee that didn't go the way either side hoped, with Parker tearing his ACL twice, the Bucks being statistically worse on the court than with him on it than when he was off and no playoff series wins, the two sides part ways.

For the Bucks, it's undoubtedly a blow to have a former No. 2 pick return so little on the court and yield nothing in return as he walks out the door, but Milwaukee consciously chose this path with its moves this summer. Pushed against the cap, the Bucks opted for other, cheaper players now as well as financial flexibility in the future.

Had the Bucks matched Parker's deal and passed on Ilyasova and Lopez, they at best would have barely skirted the tax this season, which would mean only bringing in free agents on minimum deals. Next year, the Bucks are already on the hook for nearly $70 million in salary, not counting Khris Middleton, who has a $13 million player option he will likely opt out of, or Eric Bledsoe and Malcolm Brogdon whose deals will expire at the end of this season.

Whether Parker flourishes or flops in the next stage of his career remains to be seen. But outside of two regular-season games a season, that next stage won't be in Milwaukee.