On Sunday, Hoops Rumors’ Chuck Myron ran down the list of some of the top free agents for next season and categorized them by the maximum salary bands in which they’ll fall. The first group that he looked at were those players eligible for the 25% max, which came in at $16,407,500 for this year, and is projected to surge to $20.4MM this coming offseason. Here’s the list of players falling into this salary range:
- Harrison Barnes (restricted)
- Kent Bazemore
- Bradley Beal (restricted)
- Andre Drummond (restricted)
- Festus Ezeli (restricted)
- Evan Fournier (restricted)
- Terrence Jones (restricted)
- Donatas Motiejunas (restricted)
- Timofey Mozgov
- Chandler Parsons (player option)
- Jared Sullinger (restricted)
- Dion Waiters (restricted)
- Hassan Whiteside
Though many of these players are unlikely to land maximum salary deals, it will certainly be a figure bandied about for many of them by their agents during contract negotiations. It should also be noted that restricted free agents may have a more difficult time than unrestricted ones in ascending to this income level since their current teams will have the opportunity to match any offer sheet inked by the players, provided a qualifying offer is proffered. Many teams shy away from pursuing restricted free agents because of the cap hold associated with these offer sheets, and the likelihood of the player’s original team matching said contract offer is often enough to depress a player’s market slightly. That isn’t always the case, and the significantly beefed-up cap projection for coming seasons may alter how teams view and approach these types of free agents going forward.
But what say you? Looking at the list of players above, who do you believe is the likeliest to land a maximum salary deal this coming offseason? Cast your vote below and feel free to expand on the discussion in the comments section. We look forward to what you have to say.
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