There are “whispers” that a sprained right shoulder that’s been nagging Paul Millsap since the end of the regular season might require surgery in the offseason, when he’s set to become a free agent, according to Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck. Millsap was vague about his free agent plans to Grantland’s Jonathan Abrams, but agent DeAngelo Simmons, Millsap’s uncle, had praise for the Hawks.
“Atlanta has treated us well,” Simmons said to Abrams. “They’ve treated us like first class. We’ve gotten a lot of support from them, so we’re excited to be a part of a great organization.”
The team is quietly optimistic about its chance to re-sign Millsap, as USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt reported last week. There’s plenty more on the Hawks, who remain committed to their team-oriented roster approach even as they face an 0-3 hole against LeBron James and the Cavaliers. Here’s the latest:
- Millsap is in line with Atlanta’s philosophy, and made it seem as though he’s planning on sticking around in comments that Michael Lee of The Washington Post relays. “We don’t care what anybody else thinks,” Millsap said. “We feel like we’re a really good team. No matter what happens, still going to be confident. We feel like we’re going to do something special, whether it be this year, next year, or whenever. We’re going to stick to this.”
- Rival executives believe DeMarre Carroll could command $9-12MM a year on his next contract, as the execs tell Beck for the same piece. An executive who spoke recently with Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops pegged Carroll’s next salary at somewhere in the $8-9MM range. The Hawks are set to have competition for Carroll from teams including the Lakers, Celtics and Pistons, as Sean Deveney of The Sporting News reported last week.
- Millsap could get $16MM annually or more, Beck adds, though it’s uncertain if that figure also comes from executives or is merely Beck’s educated guess.
- The Hawks need another shooter, another big man, and most of all, to learn from the experience of going deep in the playoffs, writes Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.