Donatas Motiejunas‘ decision not to report to the Rockets is related to a $6MM difference between the offer sheet he signed with the Nets and the deal he’d have to sign with Houston, reports Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com. As has been previously reported, the Nets’ offer had a base value of $35MM over four years and could have maxed out at $37MM, but the Rockets’ deal would only be worth $31MM.
[RELATED: Donatas Motiejunas not reporting to Rockets]
When a team matches an offer sheet for a restricted free agent, that team is only obligated to match the “principal terms” of the offer sheet, as cap expert Larry Coon explains in his CBA FAQ. Those principal terms include bonuses that are considered “likely” for both teams, and incentives based on generally recognized league honors.
In the case of Motiejunas’ offer sheet with the Nets, the deal was reported to include $4MM in likely bonuses and $2MM in unlikely bonuses. The exact details of those incentives aren’t known, but it appears the Rockets don’t believe they’re required to match those terms, and Motiejunas’ camp either disagrees with that view or is unhappy about it. If the Rockets are correct, it raises questions about why Motiejunas’ agents would want those terms in the Nets’ offer sheet in the first place.
[RELATED: What’s next for Donatas Motiejunas?]
According to Watkins, the Rockets are open to working out a new deal with Motiejunas, and his reps are willing to discuss that possibility. Houston would want to do something in the $31MM range, and would want to push back the decision date on his 2017/18 salary, per the ESPN scribe. The Nets’ offer sheet called for that full salary to become guaranteed on March 1, 2017.
In my look earlier today at possible scenarios for Motiejunas and the Rockets, I noted that the team could withdraw its first refusal exercise notice on the Nets’ offer sheet, then negotiate a new contract with the 26-year-old. While that may be the most likely outcome at this point, agent B.J. Armstrong is also open to receiving a new offer sheet from another team, says Watkins. It’s not clear, however, if Houston would withdraw its first refusal notice unless GM Daryl Morey was confident he could get something done with Motiejunas.
Just sign a deal already Motiejunas. If he’s healthy, he won’t need to worry.
He did sign a deal. The Rockets agreed to match it. It’s not dudes fault. The rockets need to quit playing games or he plays for he nets. Probably wouldn’t be an issue if it wasn’t for James Harden eating up all the salary cap with his one dimensional game.
I’m with you on this, I wouldn’t wanna play for the Rockets, hell they really don’t want him they just want his right so they can trade him for a better player
The rockets are not playing games. They agreed to match it as it was written by his agent. If he wants to be mad at someone, he needs to start with his agent and ask him why it was a 37 million dollar contract with the Nets and if the Rockets matched, it is only worth 31 million.
This seems like a systematic problem with the contract-matching rules.
Its not a “match” if its $6mil less. What a joke, if they really want him they will give him the full incentives.
Bj Armstrong has always come across as a terrible agent to me. He just has never sounded very bright in any interview I’ve ever heard with him, and there have been a lot of them.
Can’t call it “matching” if its not actually a match.
This is a bad look for everyone involved. D-Mo looks selfish, the agent looks like an ineffective representative, and the Rockets camp gets a bad rep for keeping D-Mo in limbo and off the court. I don’t understand why the Rockets matched. If they don’t want to pay his price, let someone else do it; the Nets aren’t even competing in the same conference.
That being said, as a Nets fan, I’m kind of pumped he won’t be eating both bench and cap space for us.
How does this actually work? Doesn’t the player get a contract to read with exact amounts? How does the season start with Motie not knowing how much he’s going to receive?
Cause if it works like I imagine, then someone in Motie’s camp didn’t do their job.