NOVEMBER 17, 2:35pm: The Sixers have officially announced Covington’s new contract, confirming the deal in a press release.
“Robert Covington is a prime example of what hard work, dedication and commitment can lead to,” president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo said in a statement. “Rob’s growth as a player on both ends of the floor makes him one of the most versatile and effective wings in the league, while his contributions of character and professionalism feature prominently in our evolving organizational culture. This extension is both well-deserved, and a really great story.”
NOVEMBER 15, 6:06pm: Sixers forward Robert Covington has agreed to a four-year extension valued at $62MM, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. The official signing of the renegotiation/extension is planned for Friday, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link).
The new deal includes a renegotiated sum for this year, followed by four more seasons, according to Derek Bodner of The Athletic (Twitter link). Philadelphia has roughly $15MM in available cap room, and all of that is expected to go to Covington on top of the $1,577,230 he is already making.
Bodner breaks down Covington’s new deal as $16,698,103 for this season, $10,018,862 for 2018/19, $10,820,371 for 2019/20, $11,621,880 for 2020/21 and $12,423,389 for 2021/22. (Twitter link). Those numbers aren’t yet official, but Bodner is confident that they’re very close to what the finalized deal will look like (Twitter link).
Today is the first day Covington is eligible to alter his current contract because it is the third anniversary of its signing. He had just been waived by the Rockets when the Sixers picked him up in November of 2014. He has developed into a reliable two-way player and has become a fixture in Philadelphia’s starting lineup.
Covington is averaging a career-high 16.8 points through 13 games, along with 5.7 rebounds and elite-level defense. He finished fourth in last year’s voting for Defensive Player of the Year.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Well deserved deal. Covington has been one of the more underrated/underappreciated players in the league.
Goes to show players sometimes just need an opportunity. Well deserved.
Using this year’s cap space to save money in the future is the best use of cap space the 6ers have done with the space we’ve been holding onto the last few years.
And considering the deals some 2nd and 3rd tier free agents have been getting, this is a great deal. All the top draft picks might be the face of the tank,but Rco has been the hidden gem,along with McConnell.
This was better than I expected, I was dreading he’d be getting 16 or 18 per season, this is a good deal actually.