Today marks the deadline to extend players before they could hit the market as restricted (or unrestricted if their qualifying offer is rescinded) free agents next summer.
Let’s take a quick look* at who inked long-term deals this afternoon:
- C Rudy Gobert (UTA) • 4 yr./$102 million • 100 mil may seem a bit egregious but there’s no question Utah made the right move here. As a small market team, you MUST retain your stars (or future stars in this case) – at age 24, Rudy is already one of the league’s top interior defenders & is showing signs of improvement offensively
- C Steven Adams (OKC) • 4 yr./$100 million • Steven Adams was a breakout star this past postseason, providing ‘roll finishing’, strong defensive activity in Billy Donovan’s five. Adams, similar to Gobert, is young (23 yrs. old) & hasn’t scratched the surface on offense – more opportunity/touches this season, avg. 13 points & 9 boards early on
- G Victor Oladipo (OKC) • 4 yr./$84 million • Adams’s new teammate, Vic Oladipo, clearly has a few fans in OKC’s front office. After dealing for Oladipo this summer, Sam Presti made sure to lock in his new SG to a long-term contract. The pressure’s now higher than ever on Vic • He needs to consistently hit spot-up triples to maintain Russ’s driving lanes – (25% from downtown thru 3 games)
- F/C Gorgui Dieng (MIN) • 4 yr./$64 million • The exact contract awarded to Timofey Mozgov (LAL) over the summer, MIN’s Gorgui Dieng has gotten better over the course of four seasons. Still, 64 million is a lot for the 4th/5th option in Thibs’s starting five. Better focus (stop fouling, guy!) & preparation on defense will help Gorgui live up to (now) loftier expectations moving forward
*first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of the Vertical
#delay
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