MILWAUKEE (AP) - The Milwaukee Bucks agreed to trade Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson to the Golden State Warriors, a person with direct knowledge of the deal said Tuesday night.
The Bucks will receive guard Monta Ellis, forward Ekpe Udoh and center Kwame Brown, the person confirmed to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been announced. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported the deal on its website Tuesday night.
Speaking before Golden State’s game at Sacramento, Ellis said he and Udoh were headed back to Oakland.
“It’s not a bad thing, man,” Ellis said. “Not at all. We are going to another team to do the same thing we love to do. I’m riding back home with him.”
Ellis, whose future has been subject to trade speculation, was reminded that he recently said he wanted to stay with the Warriors long term.
“Well, everybody says that,” Ellis said. “But sometimes it (doesn’t) always work out like that.”
The trade represents a parting of ways between the Bucks and Bogut, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 draft who has struggled with injuries. It also allows the Bucks to rid themselves of Jackson, who had fallen out of favor with coach Scott Skiles and now gets to rejoin his former team.
The players won’t be separated from their respective former teams for very long, as the Warriors host the Bucks on Friday night.
Bogut fractured his left ankle Jan. 25 against Houston when he landed awkwardly, and it’s not clear if he’ll be able to return this season. The original timetable for his recovery was eight to 12 weeks. It’s one of several significant injuries that have plagued Bogut throughout his career.
Bogut missed the end of the 2009-10 season when he dislocated his right elbow, sprained his right wrist and broke his right hand in a hard fall to the floor. The injury bothered him for much of last season.
Bogut also missed significant time with an injured lower back in the 2008-09 season.
When Bogut has played, he has played well. In 408 career games, he is averaging 12.7 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocked shots.
The Bucks struggled in February without Bogut, but have won four of their last five to chase down the struggling New York Knicks in a race for what would be the No. 8 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.
Jackson, meanwhile, hasn’t played since Feb. 19, recently sitting out with what the team has described as a hamstring injury. Skiles benched him for a game in January after he missed a shootaround, he was suspended one game by the NBA for verbally abusing an official and his playing time has been limited ever since.
The deal brings the enigmatic “Captain Jack” back to the Bay Area. He helped lead the team’s only playoff run since 1994, a surprising trip to the second round in 2007. In October 2009, the disgruntled Golden State star asked to relinquish his captain title during a meeting with then-Warriors coach Don Nelson and general manager Larry Riley. He was traded to Charlotte the next month.
Ellis has been the Warriors’ main offensive threat, averaging 21.9 points.
Ellis signed a six-year, $66 million contract in July 2008, then injured his left ankle in August in a low-speed mo-ped crash _ an offseason activity prohibited in his deal as is a standard provision for contracts around the league. It cost him a 30-game suspension without pay.
Udoh is averaging 5.5 points and 3.9 rebounds in 21.8 minutes for the Warriors, who were set to play at Sacramento on Tuesday night. Udoh is an athletic power forward who was Golden State’s sixth pick in the 2010 draft out of Baylor. The Warriors hoped he would become a reliable defender, rebounder and shot blocker.
Brown, a former No. 1 pick, is likely out for the season with a chest injury.
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AP Sports Writer Janie McCauley contributed to this report.
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