Halloween in the NBA just got a bit less scary.
According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, the league has extended its deadline for rookie-deal extensions from October 31 to November 2 this season.
The window to sign former first-round picks to contract extensions entering the fourth and final year of their rookie contracts will be two days longer than normal this season.
The NBA has confirmed to ESPN.com that the usual Oct. 31 deadline for such extensions has been officially moved to Nov. 2 because Oct. 31 falls on a weekend in 2015.
The collective bargaining agreement states that the normal extension deadline be moved to the following weekday if it falls on a weekend. Halloween, you’ll be pleased to know, is a Saturday this year.
More interesting in Stein’s story than league business minutiae? That the longtime ESPN scribe continues to hear that the Detroit Pistons’ Andre Drummond and Golden State Warriors’ Harrison Barnes are the most likely recipients of rookie extensions.
Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond and Golden State Warriors forward Harrison Barnes, according to league sources, are the players best positioned to secure a lucrative extension this month as the revised deadline approaches and negotiations in both cases continue. Drummond could potentially land a five-year deal worth around $120 million if he earns Designated Player status from the Pistons.
Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard, Jonas Valanciunas, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, and John Henson are the only players from the 2012 draft class to receive extensions thus far. The Washington Wizards would certainly like to lock up Bradley Beal long-term, too, but the sharpshooter’s likely demand of a max contract would complicate their chase of Kevin Durant in free agency next summer – a situation that we’ve covered extensively.
Drummond seems destined to sign an ultra-lucrative multi-year contract with the Pistons. Stan Van Gundy routinely mentions the hulking center as a foundation of his team’s core, and let Greg Monroe walk this summer in part because he was a poor fit alongside Drummond in Detroit’s frontcourt. Though the 22-year-old isn’t currently worth the five-year, approximately $120 million deal he’d get from the Pistons as their Designated Player, he’s only scratching the surface of his two-way potential – and still averaged 13.8 points, 13.5 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game last season.
Barnes’ ongoing negotiations with Golden State aren’t as cut-and-dried. He’s already turned down a four-year, $64 million offer from the defending champions, a deal that would put his annual salary just a hair below Draymond Green’s. The 23-year-old isn’t nearly as valuable as his loudmouth teammate, of course, but represents a key thread of the Warriors’ shape-shifting fabric nonetheless – and is keenly using his team’s cash-strapped straits and the booming league-wide salary cap to maximize his earning potential.
Keep an eye on Drummond, Barnes, and other less heralded players just after the regular season begins. Whether or not they reach extension agreements before the new deadline won’t only influence their teams immediately and going forward, but also next summer’s expectedly wild free agency period, too.
[Via ESPN]
