Chapter 827 2016 Free Agent Market

Duncan's retirement is embarrassing. When the fans were still immersed in sadness, another thing quickly attracted their attention.

In order for Durant to successfully renew his contract with the Thunder, Westbrook has jumped out of his player option.

But Durant and his team did not respond positively.

According to Woj's latest report, Durant stated that he is open to returning to the Thunder, but he will also test the upcoming free agent market!

This sentence seems familiar. Anthony also said similar things at the beginning, and finally returned to the Knicks.

But Durant and Anthony are obviously different.

The fundamental reason why Anthony chose to return to the Knicks was because of money.

But Durant obviously doesn't care that much about money, which can be seen from the original contract extension with the Thunder.

On the contrary, the message given by this sentence may be exactly the opposite of what Anthony had originally said.

Based on the relationship between Durant and the Thunder, if he stays in the Thunder, he doesn't have to spend so much trouble. He can completely renew his contract before the end of the season, just like the previous contract renewal.

This news broke out, which means that he will leave the Thunder with a high probability.

The door to the free market has not yet opened, and the news from Woj has already made all teams ready to move.

It is no exaggeration to say that except for the Pelicans, the other 29 teams all want Durant.

Durant is now the top two small forwards in the league. Everyone must be rushing for a super giant of this level.

Time flew by and it was July 1st.

The door to the 2016 NBA free agent market opened as scheduled.

Because the new labor agreement took effect this season, the league salary cap has skyrocketed by more than 20 million, which has become an opportunity for many free agents.

The skyrocketing salary cap has raised the poor line. In order to fill the poor line, many teams will naturally give much higher than him.

Coupled with Durant's previous rumors, this year's free agent market has become particularly interesting.

On the first day of opening, there were many contracts signed with him, and the contracts were all surprisingly large.

After DeRozan jumped out of the original contract, he renewed a five-year 139 million maximum salary contract with the Raptors.

DeRozan has only entered the seventh year of his career. According to the previous labor agreement, the starting salary of the maximum salary is only 19 million US dollars.

But after the salary cap skyrocketed, his starting salary increased to 26 million US dollars, and the total contract value increased by more than 40 million.

DeRozan's contract is typical of this year's free market.

Drummond of the Pistons has just ended his rookie contract. He also reached a five-year 130 million contract with the team, which also took more than 40 million more.

In a similar situation, there are Brad Beal and Batum, whose contract extensions are 128 million for 5 years and 120 million for 5 years respectively.

These used to be contracts that only superstars could get.

After the salary cap soared, the money in the free market seemed to be turned into a bunch of numbers, which were squandered by the general managers of the teams at will.

As a result, there have been many contracts with significant premiums.

Tyler Johnson, who played for the Pelicans briefly, performed well with the Heat last season, averaging 8.7 points and 3 rebounds per game.

As a result, he received a 4-year 50 million offer from the 76ers on the first day of the free market.

The same is true for Luol Deng and Mozgov, who were offered by the Lakers for 72 million in 4 years and 65 million in 4 years respectively!

Even Solomon Hill, a small forward who averaged only 4.2 points and 2.8 rebounds per game in the Pacers last season, got a 4-year offer of 52 million from the Kings!

This series of quotes is jaw-dropping.

And this kind of situation not only did not decrease on the second day, but intensified.

The Blazers renewed their contract with Aaron Crabbe for 75 million in 4 years. The latter only averaged 10.3 points and 2.7 rebounds per game last season.

The Hawks renewed their contract with Kent Bazemore for 4 years and 70 million. The latter had 11.6 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists last season.

The Magic renewed their contract with Evan Fournier for 85 million in five years. The latter averaged 15.4 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists last season.

One of the main themes of this year's free agent market is that it seems that as long as you play well, you can get tens of millions or even a maximum salary contract!

Money is really worthless!

Among the many free agent signings, the reinforcements of a few powerful players are also particularly noticeable.

The Spurs renewed Paul Gasol's contract for 30 million in two years. With Duncan's retirement, the Spurs' insiders will be Gasol and Aldridge.

Because of Harden's relationship, the Rockets are a popular candidate for Durant's next home.

Cousins' contract is very small (5 years of 80 million signed in 2013, and the salary for the new season is only 17 million), and they now have the space to eat the Big Four!

This makes other teams in the league feel uneasy. If Morey really forms the Big Four, then other teams in the league don't have to play at all.

The Warriors also suspended the renewals of Barnes and Ezeli, and are working hard to lobby Durant to join.

At the same time, the Cavaliers are also actively chasing Whiteside of the Heat in order to strengthen the inside.

The three teams that were defeated by the Pelicans last season want revenge in the new season, and what they do is to continue to strengthen!

And not just them, according to Woj's revelations, the Mavericks and the Grizzlies' free agent Conley are very close!

The Knicks are chasing Al Horford of the Hawks!

The military competition in the new season is even more fierce than last season!

When the powerful are vying for reinforcements, the Pelicans are the most balanced team.

After the free market opened, they reached a five-year 130 million maximum salary extension contract with Davis similar to Drummond.

This is expected, but their successive early contract renewals are unexpected.

After they renewed Davis, they then reached an early renewal contract with Tang Tian for 3 years and 70 million yuan.

The contract takes effect from next season, and the third year is a player option.

Not only that, they immediately reached a 5-year early contract renewal of 75 million with Holiday, and a 3-year early contract renewal of 30 million with Bojan Bogdanovic.

All of a sudden, the Pelicans kept the championship core lineup through at least 2018!

This is the biggest reinforcement!

And the team also implemented the team option of 9.5 million next season in Stephenson's contract, which left them only about 5 million away from the poor line.

And signing a short-term point guard, their summer reinforcements seem to have completed more than half.

However, neither the signings of other teams nor the stability of the Pelicans is the most eye-catching thing in this year's free agent market.

After the third day of free agency, Durant announced one of his decisions.

He has narrowed down his next team to seven, namely the Knicks, Rockets, Warriors, Clippers, Spurs, Heat and Thunder.