While most of this year’s top free agents have found new homes – or returned to their old ones – the restricted free agent market still features several interesting names. Nikola Mirotic (Bulls), JaMychal Green (Grizzlies), Mason Plumlee (Nuggets), Alex Len (Suns), and Nerlens Noel (Mavericks) remain unsigned.
A year after 27 teams dipped below the salary cap and used cap space to sign players, less than half the league’s teams did so this year, and many of those clubs have since used up all their cap room. That means that there aren’t many teams left with the spending power necessary to offer the remaining RFAs the sort of contracts they may believe they’re worth.
Clubs like the Nets, Suns, Bulls, and Hawks still have some flexibility to make aggressive offers to restricted free agents if they so choose, but none of those clubs appears to be actively pursuing anyone at the moment.
If no offer sheets are on the table for a given restricted free agent, and his team is unwilling to finalize a deal without letting the market set the price, it could create a holding pattern capable of dragging on through the summer and into the fall.
If an RFA is willing to bet on himself, he could sign his one-year qualifying offer, play out the season, and become an unrestricted free agent a year from now. The deadline for teams to withdraw qualifying offers has passed, so none of these players are in immediate danger of having their QOs pulled. Still, so far this year, no one has been willing to sign that one-year offer.
Of course, the idea of accepting the qualifying offer has varying appeal depending on the player. For instance, Green’s QO is worth a fairly modest $2,820,497, meaning he may be less inclined to sign that one-year offer than someone like Mirotic, whose QO is worth $7,228,063.
What do you think? Are the Nets or Hawks lurking with an offer sheet for any of these restricted free agents? Will they all return to their current teams? Will any of them sign their qualifying offers? Which of these RFAs would you be most inclined to pursue if you were running a team?
Jump into the comments section below to weigh in with your thoughts!
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Green will be offer sheeted and Noel might too if his price drops.
Green is such a god fit for the Nets
Noel is the perfect fit for the Pheonix Suns
I think Green to Atlanta could be a nice fit. I don’t see Denver letting Plumlee go. I know their need for him has diminished following the Millsap deal, but they did just trade Nurkic and a 1st round pick for him