It seems like people are mixing up the two different contract situations/deadlines that are being discussed right now.

Alexander (like Brewer and Pecherov) had a team option for next year, for his 3rd-year rookie-scale salary (Brewer’s 2010-11 option is for his 4th-year rookie-scale salary, but it’s the same difference). Everything I say below would also pertain to the Wolves, if they decline Brewer’s option.

By declining that option, Milwaukee is giving up their restricted rights on Alexander, making him an UN-restricted FA next summer.

They’re also now limited to the $2.7m he would have earned next year, if they want to re-sign him using Bird Rights (if they use their MLE on him, however, they can pay him up to the full amount of that exception; if they were going to have free cap room, like the Wolves will, they could sign him for any contract that fit within their free cap space).

But they’re not giving him up yet, necessarily, they just think that IF they want to keep him, they’ll be able to sign him for less than the $2.7m he was owed, OR if he plays well enough to earn more, they’ll just have to use their MLE on him (in the Wolves’ case, if they decline their option on Brewer, they’d be able to use any of their available cap room to re-sign him).

They are risking a situation where he takes offense at not having his option picked up, and refuses to re-sign with them even if they make a competitive offer, but frankly, if he thinks that way, they probably don’t want him on the team anyway.

So it’s not at all certain that Alexander is “available”. The Bucks just don’t think that he’s going to be worth $2.7m next year. They may want to keep him, just for less than that.

As for Tyrus Thomas, he’s playing under the fourth year of his rookie-scale deal, and the Bulls declined to offer him an extension, as opposed to declining an option year. That just means that instead of giving him a big, market-rate contract now, they’ve decided to let him become a restricted FA next summer. They’re still have the ability to match any contract offer he receives (presuming that they make him a qualifying offer, which doesn’t have to happen until next summer).

I’d assume that Thomas’s camp was asking for at least $8m per year, on a 5 year deal, and with the potential to create max cap room next summer, there’s basically no chance that Chicago would give him that kind of money now, since he’ll still be restricted after this year.

That means he’s probably not any more available than he has been at any previous time, they just don’t want to commit big money to him for 5 more years, when they’re going to be in a position to have major cap room if they hold off, and they still can’t lose him unless they decide they don’t want him back.