The Oklahoman (Mike Baldwin) reports on a team’s 82-game regular season schedule: “Four games against division opponents. Four games against six out-of-division conference opponents. Three games against the remaining four conference teams. Two games against teams in the opposing conference. A five-year rotation determines which out-of-division conference teams are played only three times.”

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Charles F. Gardner) reports: The Bucks are making a serious commitment to center Andrew Bogut, who will sign a five-year extension with salary and bonuses worth up to $72.5 million, according to agent David Bauman. Today is the first day for NBA free agents and players seeking extensions to sign contracts. The extension does not affect the $6.9 million he is owed for the coming season, the final year of his rookie contract. Sources indicated the guaranteed money in the extension is $60 million.
InsideHoops.com editor says: Bogut emerged last season as a quality center, though I think the Bucks are overpaying by around $10 or $20 million. He’s a good player but I haven’t seen him be a real difference-maker yet. Of course, his teammates didn’t help much in that department last season. Everyone that matters on the Bucks, including guards Mo Williams and Michael Redd, were disappointing. So it’s not Bogut’s fault that his stats mostly came by way of losses. Anyway, even if they’re paying a bit more than they should, the Bucks are making the right move. But let’s see if Bogut keeps improving once he signs the contract. Lots of guys, by total coincidence, seem to level off the season after they suddenly become zillionaires.

The Milwaukee Bucks signed Luc Richard Mbah a Moute to a multi-year contract, General Manager John Hammond announced today. Mbah a Moute (6-8, 230 lbs) was the 37th overall selection in the 2008 NBA Draft and will participate in the 2008 Las Vegas Summer League with the Bucks (July 12-20).
A native of Yaounde, Cameroon, Mbah a Moute played three seasons for the UCLA Bruins and left the school as the 15th leading rebounder with 775. In 107 games (106 starts) with the Bruins, Mbah a Moute averaged 8.7 points and 7.2 rebounds while shooting 50.3 percent from the field. As a junior he was named Honorable Mention All-Pac-10 and Honorable Mention All-Defensive Team as he produced 8.8 points and 6.0 rebounds (T-11th in the Pac-10). He has been a part of UCLA teams that reached the Final Four three consecutive years (2006-2008).
Mbah a Moute, pronounced Bah – ah – Moo-tay, will join Bucks first round draft pick Joe Alexander along with Ramon Sessions and Awvee Storey on the Bucks Summer League team. The five-game schedule kicks of Saturday against Memphis and includes games against Detroit (July 15), Denver (July 17), Minnesota (July 19) and Cleveland (July 20). Bucks.com will cover the all of Milwaukee’s Summer League action.

The  National  Basketball  Association today announced  that  the  Salary  Cap  for  the  2008-09 season will be $58.680 million.   The  new  Cap  goes  into  effect  immediately  as  the league’s “moratorium  period”  has ended and teams can begin signing free agents and making trades.
The  tax level for the 2008-09 season has been set at $71.150 million.  Any team whose team salary exceeds that figure will pay a $1 tax for each $1 by which it exceeds $71.150 million.
The  mid-level  exception  is $5.585 million for the 2008-09 season and the minimum  team  salary,  which  is  set at 75% of the Salary Cap, is $44.010 million.
For  the 2007-08 season, the Salary Cap was set at $55.630 million, the tax level was $67.865 million and the mid-level exception was $5.356 million.