Posted: July 15, 2012
The Phoenix Suns have been awarded forward Luis Scola by submitting the winning bid in the NBA’s amnesty process. The Suns also announced that the club has waived forward Josh Childress and designated him as their amnesty player, as allowed by the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
“We are excited to have won the bid for Luis Scola and to add a player of his caliber to our roster,” said Suns President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby. “We greatly value the production he will bring and the leadership he will provide to our younger players. We thank Josh Childress for his contributions. He is a consummate professional.”
Scola, a 6-9, 245-pound forward, is an established low-post scorer and above-average rebounder who joins the Suns with career averages of 14.5 points and 7.7 rebounds in 386 games (343 starts) over five NBA seasons, all with Houston. Last season the 32-year-old averaged 15.5 points and 6.5 rebounds, the third-straight campaign in which Scola has averaged at least 15.0 points and 6.5 boards. A native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Scola is a career 51.0-percent shooter, who has shot 50 percent or better from the floor in four of his five NBA seasons.
Scola played in all 66 games last season, the fourth time in five NBA campaigns in which he has played a full slate of games. Overall, the veteran has appeared in 386 of a possible 394 games (.980) in his career.
Suns fans will next see Scola play later this month when he represents his native Argentina in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. It will mark the third Olympic appearance by Scola, who helped lead Argentina to the nation’s first men’s basketball gold medal in 2004, and also a bronze medal in 2008. He was the MVP of both the 2009 and 2011 FIBA Americas Championships, and averaged 27.1 points at the 2010 FIBA World Championships, the most by an Argentinian in tournament history.
Scola began playing professionally in his native Argentina at the age of 15, and came to the NBA after a Spanish League career where was the Rookie of the Year, a two-time league MVP and a three-time Spanish National Cup champion.
Originally selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the 56th overall pick (second round) of the 2002 NBA Draft, Scola’s rights were traded to Houston on July 12, 2007.
Childress was originally acquired by the Suns in a sign-and-trade deal with the Atlanta Hawks on July 14, 2010, after he had spent two seasons playing internationally for Olympiacos Piraeus in Greece (2008-09, 2009-10). The former Stanford standout owns career averages of 9.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 373 games.