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Andrew Bynum learning the market for his services isn’t that strong

Andrew Bynum

Cleveland Cavaliers center Andrew Bynum Monday, Sept. 30, 2013, in Independence, Ohio. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

AP

Andrew Bynum missed all of last season in Philadelphia — well, basketball season, he got some bowling in. He got into 24 games for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season but saw his minutes dwindle as he is shooting just 41.9 percent and his rebounding percentage dropped. He was average on the court, at best. Combine that with the fact his reputation around the league is he doesn’t love the game and doesn’t work hard enough to play through his knee issues, and nobody thought there was going to be much of a market for the big man.

Well, except Bynum. Apparently.

He has always been a guy really driven by the dollar (and whatever he found interesting at that moment, which was not always basketball) and after losing $6 million in salary this season when he was traded to Chicago and promptly waived, he wants to recoup some of that “lost” money. He wants more than the minimum.

But Bynum is discovering the market for him is just not strong anymore, reported Marc Stein at ESPN.

Teams with a known interest, sources said, include Dallas and New York, but both of those suitors, like the Clippers, are restricted to offering a minimum salary. Bynum, meanwhile, is said to be looking for an offer above the league minimum to recoup more of the $6 million he lost when Chicago waived Bynum immediately Tuesday after acquiring him in a trade for Luol Deng…

The Miami Heat were widely considered co-favorites in the Bynum hunt -- along with the Clippers -- as soon as the injury-riddled big man became a free agent. Miami still has its taxpayer midlevel exception of nearly $3.2 million available to chase Bynum, but how much of that the Heat are willing to spend is another source of uncertainty given their luxury-tax situation.

I think the early leaks of the Heat and Clippers as frontrunners came more from the wishful thinking of Bynum’s camp than reality. The Clippers need frontcourt depth but can only offer the minimum and are leaning away from going after Bynum anyway, Stein reports. Same with the Hawks and Nets (two other teams that could use another big).

Portland, another team who might want to add a big, also is not interested, reports Chris Haynes at CSNNW.com.

Indiana is has reached out, but their interest only seems to be in trying to keep him out of Miami. The Heat have to think about size and depth going up against Roy Hibbert and the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals (that meeting seems all but inevitable) however they already have Chris Andersen and Greg Oden on the roster. Bynum has been better than Oden (and more durable, such as it is) but the Heat have to wonder if it’s worth the risk.

All of which is to say, there just isn’t that much of a market for Bynum. As he is finding out.