Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle broke the news last week that the Bulls would be signing Tristan Thompson after a brief stint in Indiana following his trade from the Kings. The Bulls finally announced the signing over All-Star Weekend, also announcing the release of Alfonzo McKinnie in the process.
While the assumption was Thompson was signed to a prorated minimum deal, Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus reported that the Bulls actually used their bi-annual exception to sign the veteran big man. This gave Thompson an extra $225K or so, and also means the Bulls won’t have that cap exception available this coming offseason when it’s set to be worth about $4 million.