While NBA teams have been able to renegotiate and extend contracts for a while, Ru sell Westbrook and James Harden are the faces of a new resurgence that coincided with the 2016 salary cap jump. Robert Covington should be the next key player to renegotiate and extend his contract, but the example to look to is Westbrook and Hardens Thunder teammate Nick Collison.Back in 2010, Sam Presti and Oklahoma City had an unusual situation because the Thunderpo se sed both cap space and a slew of talented rising stars still getting paid on bargain basement rookie scale deals. They knew eventually those players would get paid (one in Houston,but that story is for a different day), so the best way to spend that temporarily available space was in a way that had short-term costs and long-term benefits
Tony Gonsolin Jersey .MORE: What Presti and the Thunder did was give Collison for an additional $11 million and four years, adding four seasons and $17.5 million, but putting more than one-third of that money on the 2010-11 books.The Sixershave a similar situation with about $15 million in salary cap space for this season and a desire to minimize their expenses for when Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Markelle Fultz and their other young talent receive their own raises off rookie scale contracts. Collisons 2010 contract inspired changes in the ensuing Collective Bargaining Agreement, but the Sixers front office can still follow that basic idea later this year.Under the current rules, a renegotiated and extended player can have a 40 percentdrop in their salary from the final renegotiated year to the first new season of the extension, which would be 2018-19 in this case
Trevor Bauer Jersey . That means bumping Covingtons current salary all the way from $1,577,230 to $16,698,103 (the maximum allowed using Philadelphias current cap space) could open the door for a $10.02 million starting salary in 2018-19 and an overall four additional years and $50.4 million$15.1 million added this season and $35.3 million in the four new seasons.Of course, that is only the minimum contract value of a renegotiation and extension using this approach. Covington could say he wants more than $50 million in new commitments since that would be the same as a $12.6 million annual salary on the open market next summer, and he could make meaningfully more than that as a talented defender who can shoot 3-pointers (48.2 percent from deep through eight games this season).If the front office agrees, the Sixerscould keep the 2017-18 component the same and simply add more money in future seasons
Mookie Betts Jersey , though that either reduces their summer of 2018 salary cap space, increases their eventual luxury tax bills or both. Depending on their motivations, they could follow the above structure and have the later years decline in salary, or have them increase to maximize 2018 cap space but make future seasons more expensive.MORE: The Sixershave something strong in their corner, too: security. While Covington would be an unrestricted free agent next summer and thus not artificially limited by the restricted system, there are simply .On top of that, Covington has made le s than $5 million in his career so far, and this deal would lock in truly life-changing money more than seven months in advance. He does not need to look far to
Walker Buehler Jersey see how quickly injuries can change a players financial prospects.One significant factor in contract structure for those future seasons is how Philadelphia sees its 2018 cap space. Agreeing to a max extension withEmbiid moves his cap hold from $18.3 million to a projected $25.3 million, trimming $7 million off the Sixers'July spending power. A new agreement with Covington would push his hold from about $1.5 million to that new number, meaning another $8.5 million reduction to the Sixers 2018 flexibility.The front offices recent decision to decline Jahlil Okafors $6.3 million option made clearing space a little easier, but Philadelphiawill need to decline to make Nik Stauskas a qualifying offer to make the most of its opportunities, especially since 2018 draft picks will eventually take a chunk out of their space.The Sixerswill not know
Logan Forsythe Jersey exactly how big a chunk until draft lottery night in May.Still, that eventual amount around $20-25 million should be enough for Avery Bradley, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danny Green or whomever else management prioritizes in free agency.There could certainly be some potential negotiation that still needs to happen, but a significant reason a Covington renegotiation and extension has not happened yet is timing. Covington signed his current contract later in 2014(Nov.15th),so the third anniversary of the signing has not happened yet, and even if a deal is agreed to already, it cannot happen before then. That raises the po sibility or even likelihood that both sides know what will happen and are simply biding time.While Covington does not generate the excitement of Embiid, Simmons or Fultz, the Sixers front office could solidify their future with some creative accounting while still maintaining enough flexibility for another big difference-maker in free agency next summer. Related Articles NBA Draft mistakes: Every team's ugliest, most painful regret
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