DETROIT — Free-agent center Ben Wallace is leaving the Detroit Pistons to sign with the Chicago Bulls, a person within the NBA said Monday.
The person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because NBA free agents can't officially sign contracts until July 12, said the Pistons offered Wallace a four-year contract worth about $50 million. That would have made him the highest-paid player on the team next season with a salary of $11.5 million.
Messages were left Monday night for Wallace's agent, Arn Tellem, and a call to Wallace's home in suburban Detroit went unanswered. But Wallace told The Detroit News that he will sign a four-year deal with the Bulls.
"I appreciate everything Detroit did for me and my family," he told the newspaper Monday night. "They gave me an opportunity to make a name for myself and we had an opportunity to win a championship together."
Wallace helped Detroit advance to four straight conference finals — the first team to do so since the Bulls of the early 1990s.
Detroit had wanted to keep its starting lineup together, and Joe Dumars, the Pistons' president of basketball operations, said late last week that his top priority was to re-sign Wallace.
But Wallace said he was disappointed with the Pistons' offer.
"We tried to work out a couple of deals," he told the newspaper. "But there was nothing that Joe felt would work."
Wallace, a four-time Defensive Player of the Year, could be a good fit for an up-and-coming Chicago team that needs help with rebounding and defense.
He was just what the Pistons needed when they acquired him and Chucky Atkins from Orlando before the 2000-01 season in a sign-and-trade deal for Grant Hill.
WADE, HEAT WORKING ON EXTENSION: Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat are working on a five-year contract extension, with the hope that a deal will be struck before the MVP of the NBA finals leaves for USA Basketball's summer training camp later this month.
Wade is eligible for a deal worth about $80 million; the exact value of the extension, much like the one agreed to by Carmelo Anthony with Denver and the one offered to LeBron James in Cleveland, will not be known until the salary cap for the 2007-08 season is set.