Because the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement has made it more difficult for teams to carry players who are either injured or no longer productive at a large salary on their roster, teams are expected to operate more cautiously on extensions for their own players than they have over the past few years. Evidence of this approach, at least on some level, came when the Dallas Mavericks traded away Luka Doncic ahead of an offseason in which he could be offered a five-year, $345 million supermax. The Mavericks were reportedly as afraid of Doncic signing the supermax as they were of him rejecting it.
The Philadelphia 76ers have become a cautionary tale as they now have Joel Embiid and Paul George on immovable contracts after they were expecting to be a title contender. Meanwhile, the Phoenix Suns have a roster they cannot repair due to second apron constraints despite a pair of All-NBA talents in Kevin Durant and Devin Booker because their third max contract player, Bradley Beal, isn’t the player he was just a few years ago.
“The heart of why the Mavericks didn’t pay Luka Doncic, or traded Luka Doncic, was because they didn’t want to pay him,” said Brian Windhorst on Unsportsmanlike. “At the end of the day, they did not think a $300 million investment was smart in Luka. We could spend hours debating whether that’s true or not, but that’s what they saw.
“The idea that we are in an era where you just take all your players on your roster and just immediately pay them the max just no matter what… That era, I believe, is coming to a close. I believe we are just at the beginning of seeing teams getting, especially that second max contract, and just instantaneously handing it to them [is over]. And so when we watch guys in the middle of their careers… let’s see how these playoffs go and let’s see when some of these extensions come up whether those extensions get done. We’re in a new era right now where you cannot make a mistake on a big contract, which is the lesson that the Sixers and the Suns to a certain extent are learning right now.”
Ja Morant, Trae Young, Darius Garland and Jaren Jackson Jr. are amongst some of the high profile players who will be eligible for contract extensions this offseason.
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