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The answers have been varied but a Los Angeles athlete feels confident that LeBron will not be coming to his hometown next season.
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Thunder attacker from Oklahoma City Paul George ( 13) passes the ball against the Toronto Raptors at the Air Canada Center. Oklahoma City defeated Toronto (Photo: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY's HUI Sports)
In the first three hours of the free NBA 2018 agency, transactions were concluded at a pace fast.
Nineteen players in the first three hours of free agency have agreed to deal with major teams (a four-year commitment from Paul George to stay in Oklahoma City) to the minor (a contract of 39; one year for Derrick Rose to stay in Minnesota).
Did the wave of early activities mean?
Players wanted to keep up with the money before it dries up because that is what will happen this summer.
Money is tight during the off-season. Few teams have the kind of salary cap space to give big contracts. Oh, there are some teams (Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Dallas) with money to spend, but it 's not like the summer of 2016 when the salary cap went from $ 70 million in 2015-16 to $ 94.1 million in 2016-17.
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The cap for 2018-2019 is $ 101.86 million, up compared to $ 99.09 million last season. Teams have limited leeway if they exceed the salary cap or luxury tax ($ 123.7 million for 2018-2019), and a handful of teams with money to spend – especially those who are rebuilding – are cautious and anticipate future seasons. [19659008] LeBron James will still sign for a large number, as will probably DeMarcus Cousins, although both are short-term offers. After these deals were concluded early Sunday morning, the rest of the day was rather quiet as teams and agents trace the second stage of the free agency.
The restricted free agent market will also be interesting this week. young players – Clint Capela, Julius Randle, Aaron Gordon, Parker Jabari, Marcus Smart and Zach LaVine available. Restricted free agents may sign an offer with another team, but the team they played last season has the right to match the offer and keep the player.
It is possible that one or more of these players do not get the desired offer sheet or an offer from another team thus not getting the lucrative contract that they were looking for. On Twitter, LaVine laughed at the idea that it is not worth more than $ 15 million per season
After restricted free agents and a few other unrestricted (Tyreke Evans, Derrick Favors), this will be a race to secure money, and it will be a buyers market allowing teams to sign valuable contracts.
Another reason why teams protect the space of salary caps: the league informed the teams in the matter. a memo that the wage projection for 2019-2020 is $ 109 million, and for 2020-21, $ 116 million. These are substantial increases over what happened between last season and next season.
Also, next summer will be announced as another great free year with players like Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Klay Thompson, Jimmy Butler, Al Horford, Kevin Love, Tobias Harris, Khris Middleton, Ricky Rubio, Kemba Walker, Jeff Teague available and maybe even Kevin Durant or James in the free agency without restriction. There will also be a high class of restricted free agents starting with Karl-Anthony Towns and Kristaps Porzingis.
So Sunday, agents and players went to work early, close deals and get money, and some transactions may seem negligible compared to the big money thrown in two seasons ago or even last season at On the first day of the free agency, some players wanted to make sure that they were paid.
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