Two more players will officially become restricted free agents when the new NBA league year begins on July 1. According to RealGM’s transactions log, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Andre Roberson have received qualifying offers from the Pistons and Thunder, respectively.
Caldwell-Pope, the eighth overall pick in the 2013 draft, is coming off a 2016/17 season in which he averaged 13.8 PPG, 3.3 RPG, and 2.5 APG, with a shooting line of .399/.350/.832. The Pistons reportedly plan to be aggressive in matching any offer sheet for Caldwell-Pope, perhaps even going up to the max, if necessary.
As for Roberson, his offensive numbers have always been modest, and that didn’t change in 2016/17 — despite setting a new career high in scoring, he still only averaged 6.6 PPG. However, Roberson is one of the league’s best perimeter defenders, earning a spot on the NBA’s All-Defensive Second team earlier today.
Caldwell-Pope’s qualifying offer from the Pistons will be worth $4,958,374, while Roberson’s QO from Oklahoma City has increased to $4,588,840 after he met the starter criteria. As long as the Pistons and Thunder don’t withdraw those qualifying offers, they’ll retain the right of first refusal on their respective free agents, giving them the opportunity to match any offers.
Both Caldwell-Pope and Roberson will have the option of accepting those one-year qualifying offers, but they’re expected to receive much larger multiyear offers in free agency. Generally, the only reason a coveted RFA would sign his qualifying offer is in order to leave his current team as soon as possible — signing the QO would put a player on track to reach unrestricted free agency a year from now.
Roberson should take the qualifying offer, see how it goes in OKC for one more year and then look for a big contract.
what’s the point in that. He could cash out now instead of playing 1 more yet and watching his value stay the same
He really has to work on that 3 point shot.
i agree that if he could improve his shot he could cash out more, but i think at this point he’s not gonna improve that much
If I’m a team with cap space I’m finding a way to get Roberson. Develop his offensive game and rely on his defense if all else fails.
if he had an offensive game it’d be developed by now, or at least be better than it is
I’m only wondering about Kelly Olynyk. That move directly ties to George and Hayward.
Roberson is the one guy that the Lakers should make an offer to in the range of $5.5 to $5.75 million. He is a lockdown perimeter defender who can help them big-time. The rest of their focus should be on bringing in a couple of dead eye shooters.