Deals Not Done

Gordon Hayward and others from lottery teams will become restricted free agents next summer. Will they be worth the amount of money they could garner?

With the deadline to extend player contracts passed, a few prominent young players hailing from NBA lottery teams found themselves without a contract extension. Greg Monroe, Gordon Hayward and Eric Bledsoe will become restricted free agents this summer, meaning their respective teams can match any offer made. The issue becomes whether matching an offer sheet, which will likely be more expensive, will be worth it.

Greg Monroe is arguably the most talented player of the three, but despite this, it isn’t too surprising a deal wasn’t reached. Detroit gave Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings a combined roughly $73 million this offseason, and as good as Monroe has been at times in his career, it also isn’t finically responsible to spend even more money on Monroe so quickly (then again, neither was spend $73 million on Smith and Jennings). But I digress. Before Detroit goes ahead and fills a majority of their cap space on three players, evaluating how these three play together is a reasonable idea. I’d also wager that Monroe would have signed a max or near max deal had an extension been signed now, meaning the Pistons won’t likley be saving a lot (or any) money by signing him now. And judging by this offseason, the Pistons seem fine with spending whatever is necessary to bring players in.

Hayward’s situation is a little more surprising. I understand the team’s approach; as Marc Stein reported, Utah wants to see if Hayward can produce now that Al Jefferson and Paul Milsap, each of whom took a lot of pressure off Hayward, are no longer on the team. But as Stein writes, “the highly regarded swingman — admired in many rival front offices for his versatility, size and shooting prowess — will receive an offer in July near or at the estimated four-year max of $62 million.” Therein lines the issue. While highly regarded throughout the league, the best way for another team to land Hayward will be to overpay, and it will be up to Utah then to determine whether he is worth max money. At this point I’d argue against anything close to a max deal; I could name a handful of players I’d rather sign for $62 million over four years. Hayward did have a bit of a breakout year last season however, and should his development continue this season, max money for Hayward may not be as crazy.

Finally, there’s Eric Bledsoe. Like Utah, Phoenix isn’t quite ready to commit long-term, as Bledsoe, for all the hype and potential surrounding him, has never been the focal point of an offense. Bledsoe reportedly wanted at least $10 million per year, so it makes sense for Phoenix to see how Bledsoe fares before committing that much money.

Ultimately, all three players are good enough to warrant big money extensions, but each has a share of questions that need to be answered before their organizations cash in.