Poof!! NBA Player Makes $66 Million Disappear

Without mentioning any names…

I mean, maybe he thought…

OK – I’m hoping this story about a 23-year-old NBA player with a medical history that includes major knee surgery (torn ACL in 2013) turning down a contract offer from the Dallas Mavericks of about $70 million guaranteed over four years, only to end up signing a one-year, $4.1 million qualifying offer (or less than Knicks’ guard Ron Baker will make) days after changing agents is inaccurate.

But if it IS accurate:

Hoping this kid, who in three years has never played a full NBA season and missed the first 23 games of the 2016-17 season with minor surgery (there’s no such thing as minor knee surgery for an athlete, especially when you’ve had a torn ACL repaired four years earlier on that same knee) somehow remains healthy for the entire 2017-18 season and based on his performance puts himself in position – as an unrestricted free agent – to sign a max deal next summer, or at least something close to the deal he allegedly rejected.

Hoping there’s a team that feels he’s worth the gamble AND has the cap space to sign him as an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2018 at the price he’s looking for. Most teams in the NBA are in tenuous cap situations and are probably not looking to spend huge bucks on centers with limited offensive range in a perimeter-oriented league.

By now, many of us have imagined the reaction from our spouse or other family members to a similar scenario:

“You turned down WHAT and signed for HOW MUCH?”

Even other players around the NBA felt compelled to comment on this kid’s decision via social networking and he’s getting panned on Twitter. Maybe he gets the last laugh, but it takes a lot of confidence in one’s own abilities to make a decision like that.

The free agent money for 2017 has largely dried up.  Even a guy like Derrick Rose, who has lost some explosiveness with all the injuries but still averaged 18 ppg last season for the Knicks, ended up signing with the Cavs for the veteran’s minimum at $2.1 million.

That signing should have given this kid pause.

This guy certainly isn’t the first professional athlete to take this kind of gamble, but he’s hoping to strike it rich for a Dallas Mavericks team with a rookie point guard and aging superstar as its focal points while playing in the unrelenting Western Conference. This guy will not be featured because his offensive game is still not polished.

And we all know that stats are what gets you the big bucks.

If his body allows him about 35 minutes of burn per game, he is a strong candidate to average double figures in points and rebounds (not using that other expression) – around 14 points and 10 boards, perhaps, which he could use to present his case for top dollars, especially since he’s also a rim protector and runs the floor.

It would seem out of character for him to become a ball hog all of a sudden, but we’ve seen guys go on salary drives in the final year of their contract. It’s just not his game. And the Dallas Mavericks are not a franchise that looks kindly upon selfish players.

No one questions this kid’s ability – it has always been about durability. But to justify the kind of deal he’s likely looking for, he’ll need to show the ability to anchor a defense – a Rudy Gobert-level impact.

Should that occur, he’s still not likely to pull down much more than he allegedly rejected with Mavs original offer.

That’s tough.

In sum, several things have to happen to prevent this from becoming one of the more regrettable contractual decisions the league has seen in a while from one of its more talented young players.

Hoping for a healthy, breakout year…for this kid’s sake.