NBA AM: Extension Deadline Cometh

Four Days Left

With the deadline to extend the first-round draft picks from the 2014 NBA Draft just four days away, there is a harsh reality facing some players who may not get an extension before the season starts—there won’t be a ton of cap space in July.

With Minnesota’s Andrew Wiggins and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid reaching huge maximum deals, the balance of the 2014 class may not find the same kinds of numbers in their future, mainly because their respective teams will have the option of matching free agent offers in restricted free agency. As Dallas’ Nerlens Noel and Memphis’s JaMychal Green found out this past summer, getting a hefty offer sheet isn’t as easy as it seems.

The challenge in restricted free agency is to craft an offer sheet that the home team would be unlikely to match. In Noel’s case, the Dallas Mavericks set the bar at four years and roughly $70 million, fully guaranteed. Finding a better deal than that proved impossible, mainly because the few teams that had interest didn’t have that kind of cap space and the ones with cap space were not making that kind of offer.

The challenge facing this year’s potential restricted free agent class is that the marketplace won’t be nearly as flush with salary cap cash and there will be a number of high profile All-Stars hitting the market. Unless one of the extension eligible players really erupts, more players than not may be facing a bleak marketplace.

Over the next 96 hours, agents and teams will frequently engage over the idea of an extension mainly to lock in security for the player and maybe get a bargain on the team side.

Boston and guard Marcus Smart have been talking extension, as have Orlando’s duo of Elfrid Payton and Aaron Gordon.

Lakers forward Julius Randle is in a tough spot mainly because he’ll be the player moved to open up cap space, so doing an extension now would make him harder to trade this season as his new deal would get averaged out in his trade outgoing trade value.

League sources pegged Rodney Hood as a player to watch as the extension deadline draws near, mainly because similar players have inked deals establishing something of a range that makes sense for Hood. The Jazz seems open to the idea and word is Hood’s camp is willing to deal to lock in security for Hood who has had his share of injuries.

Denver’s Gary Harris signed for four-years and $84 million, while Toronto’s Norman Powell signed for four-years and $42 million. Phoenix’s TJ Warren inked a similar deal clocking in at four-years and just at $50 million.

League sources pegged a deal for Hood as needing to be closer to $70 million. As the clock ticks closer to the deadline, he may be the next 2014 player to ink a deal.

The marketplace is the biggest drive of salary values when a deal is not a maximum contract and with the market not looking to have nearly as many options in July, team can be more aggressive in trying to find value, and at the same time, players may not have as much leverage as they did even a year ago, especially for the non-marquee players.

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