NBA Trade News: Chicago Bulls Send John Salmons To Milwaukee

The Chicago Bulls did indeed hold John Salmons out of Wednesday's game against the New York Knicks for a reason.

The Bulls have traded the shooting guard to the Milwaukee Bucks for Kurt Thomas and Francisco Elson and their expiring contracts (new sources as of Thursday morning say the expiring contract could be Hakim Warrick's and Joe Alexander, who is an unrestricted free agent after this season, instead of Thomas and Elson).

This move will free up the $5.8 million owed to Salmons next year bringing the Bulls to about $20 million under the cap for the 2010 free agent sweepstakes.

Milwaukee gets a guard to replace the injured Michael Redd and the Bulls get expiring contracts and $5.8 million for the 2010 free agency.

Salmons was unable to fill the shoes of Ben Gordon after his departure last year. Frankly, Salmons was unable to fill his own shoes from last season dropping out of the Bulls' starting lineup averaging 12.7 points per game with a 38 percent three-point percentage and a 42 percent field goal percentage after averaging 18.3 points per game while shooting 47 percent from the field and 41 percent from beyond the three-point arc last season.

The Bulls also tried to ship Tyrus Thomas to Milwaukee along with John Salmons, but Scott Skiles, of all people, knows better than to fall for that one.

The Bulls were also trying to ship Thomas to the Rockets in a deal for Tracy McGrady, however, nothing came from that.