Sources: Tyreke Evans, Pacers finalizing a one-year, $12M deal. https://t.co/pXsjp2IArw
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 3, 2018
Denver has traded Wilson Chandler and a draft consideration to the 76ers, league sources tell ESPN. Chandler will be absorbed into the Sixers space.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 3, 2018
We always knew there wouldn’t be much money for Marcus Smart in free agency. The teams with cap space were always few and far between, and today his options shrunk even more.
Tyreke Evans has eaten up Indy’s cap space, leaving us here:
With Indiana using cap space to sign Tyreke Evans, we are now down to four teams that have significant room: Atlanta ($21M), Chicago ($23M), Philadelphia ($15M) and Sacramento ($18M). This is not an easy market to be a restricted free agent.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) July 3, 2018
That tweet was made before the Philly deal, so Philly will only have about $6 million left.
Atlanta and Chicago are much better served preserving their cap space to become salary dumps for other teams trying to make trades. Teams often attach draft picks in those scenarios so they’ll get more in terms of team-building by acquiring those kinds of assets rather than paying Marcus Smart.
That leaves us Sacramento, who decided against drafting Luka Doncic so they could keep the ball in De’Aaron Fox’s hands more. They’re not going to pay Marcus Smart big money to be a backup.
Unless…
They make Smart a 2-year offer with partial guarantees in the second year. Restricted free agents have to get two-year offers, so the Kings could give him a two-year deal worth something like $35 million and only a small portion of that would be guaranteed in the second year… essentially giving him a pseudo-one year deal to come in and teach the young Kangs about winning plays.
That’s a long shot, but it’s the only shot Marcus Smart has left. The money is almost gone this year, so the odds of him sticking around have now significantly increased.
And just because this has been my idea for a while, I’m going to suggest, AGAIN, that he signs a two-year deal. Evans is the 24th one-year contract of this free agency. Yes, there will be money to be had next season, but that money is going to dry up quickly too because the market will be flooded with free agents.
Two years in the low $20 million range makes even more sense now for both sides. Hopefully the deal gets done soon.
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