How crazy will summer free agent market be? How about reported $50 million for Festus Ezeli

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2016/05/06/how-crazy-will-summer-free-agent-market-be-how-about-reported-50-million-for-festus-ezeli/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs








How crazy will summer free agent market be? How about reported $50 million for Festus Ezeli.



By Kurt Helin


May 6, 2016, 7:59 AM EDT




Festus Ezeli averaged 7 points and 5.6 rebounds a game in just under 17 minutes a night in the 46 games he played last season, having missed time to have he knee scoped (he missed the entire 2013-14 season with surgery on that same knee). He’s averaged less than nine minutes per game in the playoffs, but played a key role defending the paint in the Warriors Game 2 win against the Trail Blazers.

What does that make him worth as a restricted free agent this summer?

Likely three years, $50 million a source told Sean Deveney of the Sporting News.

According to several league executives, that is likely to be what it takes to land Warriors restricted free agent center Festus Ezeli this summer. “Obviously there are health issues you’re worried about,” one general manager told Sporting News. “So I don’t think you’d want to go beyond three years. But he still has a lot of upside and he can get better in a bigger role.”

That’s $16.6 million a season, on average. The crazy number is market forces coming together on a couple of fronts. First, is that the market itself will be flooded with cash as the new television deal money kicks in and the salary cap spikes by $22 million up to an estimated (by the league) $92 million next season. Around two-thirds of the teams in the league will have the cap space for a max player, but there are not near that many players of that quality on the market. Meaning some guys are going to get over paid because teams will be looking to spend.

Second, big men in the NBA get overpaid. Always has been. Especially rim-protecting bigs right now, something needed to counter some of the impacts of small ball slashers in the half court. It’s simple supply and demand — if you want a rotation level guard in free agency you have plenty of options, but if you want an athletic 7-footer there are just a few of those around.

Still, who is going to pay $50 million for Ezeli? Maybe the Lakers.

The Lakers, a source said, will have interest in Ezeli, seeing his size and rim-protecting defense as an ideal complement to forward Julius Randle. L.A., of course, just hired Warriors assistant Luke Walton to be its coach. Ezeli had the best months of his career in November and December, with Walton filling in while Kerr recovered from back surgery, and before Ezeli’s knee injury.

The Warriors have the right to match any offer, Ezeli is a restricted free agent. Whether they would match something in the $50 million ballpark for Ezeli will be a factor of other moves they make this summer — if the Kevin Durant whispers are true the Warriors then can’t afford Ezeli, and what the team plans to do with Andrew Bogut long term.

Still, $50 million for Ezeli.

It’s going to be one wild summer.



bob


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$17M per year for a guy who's BEST year he played a whooping 1120 Minutes?

those are crazy numbers, let's see how it plays out.

I don't know if anyone is going to want to pay that kind of money for Ezeli.  Unfortunately, the money coming in from the new TV deal is going to have agents looking in this range for similar players.  It's about to get nuts, and very little has been written about it so far.  Expect some NBA labor unrest coming up as players and agents go after a bigger piece of a bigger pie.

That being said, I'd like to see us pursue Ezeli, who is restricted, but not at that price.  In the alternative, and in pursuit of a big man, I'd rather see us skip free agency and look to draft Stone or maybe Jones if either are available at 16 or 23.  If picking 5, and Hield is gone, perhaps Poeltl if available.  Any of those options appear better to me than stupid money on a second tier free agent.

I like Ezeli, but with his injury history, how can you lay out that kind of money?

I would love him in green on a reasonable contract, if he can get that kind of money elsewhere, more power to him.

Get ready for all kinds of rumors relating to how much many NBA players may earn this summer.  It is clearly going to be a bonanza for many players who most of us do not think are players who should be paid as much as they are likely to make.

Almost every team has money to spend, and some MUCH more than what they have had in the past (like our Cs for example) and many of these teams could see this summer as the one year that they can go for broke and really change the talent level of their team.

Being careful with what they spend this summer is a good idea for our Cs. In my opinion, no second tier guys should get max contracts because guys like Bradley, Thomas, Smart, etc are going to be coming up to the end of their contracts in a couple of years. A second tier guy getting $15M is going to get in the way of resigning the guys who currently make up our core will be much tougher to sign with second tier guys sitting on the roster for big bucks.

Some teams will need to overspend.

Dboss