Marcus Morris‘ decision to join the Knicks after agreeing to an offer from the Spurs will add momentum to a push to shorten the summer moratorium, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
Morris accepted a two-year, $20MM offer from San Antonio on July 6, but changed his mind a few days later when the Knicks agreed to give him $15MM for one season. New York had unexpected money available after renegotiating its deal with Reggie Bullock over health issues.
Bontemps points out that similar concerns arose last summer when Nemanja Bjelica and Yogi Ferrell backed out of respective deals with the Sixers and Mavericks when they got better offers from the Kings.
Although executives that Bontemps spoke to at the Summer League were split in their opinions on these decisions, they are united in their dislike of the six-day moratorium, with one telling him, “It’s just too long.”
In the wake of his free agent odyssey, Morris has decided to change agents, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. Morris has parted ways with Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, who is arguably the league’s most powerful agent and helped steer Anthony Davis to the Lakers. A source tells Bondy that Morris refused a three-year, $41MM offer from the Clippers before agreeing to the deals with the Spurs and then the Knicks.
I honestly don’t understand the need for a moratorium period at all.
Well it was inevitable that teams approached free agents anyways, so they pretty much just made it legal and more fair
2 team trades can be reworked into 3 team trades. FA signing can be worked into sign and trades. Basically gives a period for teams to improve on the deals before they become official.
Make moratorium after draft. Teams already talk with players. It’s an old practice that needs to end
Why not before? Then draft for need
I remember when it was a month …
Yikes. Imagine turning down a $41 mil deal with the Clippers, only to sign for 2/20 with SA, only to then spurn them into going 1/15 with Knicks.
Bet he regrets that decision now.
Ya but the 41 mil was prob a placeholder if Kawhi signed elsewhere..
So Morris technically didn’t turn it down
Not if it was a 4 year deal, with the last year a team option.
The Clips had a short path to about 10-11 mm in cap space, over and above what they needed to sign KL. Any 41 mm deal had to be for 4 years. They subsequently used that cap space to pick up Harkless and a 1st in the Butler deal.
DXC is most likely correct here, good call.
That is what we call fake news…they are trying to pour some water on the smokey fire. Make the player appear a little more glossy…like it’s not his fault at all…
The teams need the control here not the player.
You can’t have a full period of FA signings or trades prior to determining the league’s BRI for the coming year, because the cap and all other salary relevant numbers are based on it. So, the moratorium has to be after the last day of the league year, which right now is June 30th. I’m not sure why it needs to be 6 days, and I believe it was shorter in recent years, and there are always minor differences in the BRI used for cap, etc. purposes and the eventual settle up.
Still, NBA executives need to stop whining about it. The breakdown of the gentlemen’s agreement regarding deals agreed to during the moratorium is on them, as much as the players and their agents. HONOR each other’s agreements, and you won’t have to worry about the low character of some players and virtually all agents.
So you are saying EXACTLY this then
Team A can tell Player C they can sign for $12 mil PA
One week later
Player C goes to sign his contract with Team A the contract now reads $7 mil PA…
Because the team now has the ability to accurately gauge a players value after the offer period so what you saying is the teams should have the option to reevaluate that decision.
That is EXACTLY what you said just the other way around…
It is not okay…is it?
You’re hopelessly confused. Until your reading comprehension improves, there’s little point in engaging further.
@DXC Apologies, I did misinterpret your feelings relayed in the last paragraph. My comment is an obvious hypothetical response to that, regardless I think we are on the same page
You actually used the exact term that is relevant to me, ‘a gentleman’s agreement’ to most people, be it a handshake or a verbal agreement to a deal is just that and will work without a hitch.
A breakdown or ‘maybe’ a change of heart…feeling towards dollar bills…during the moratorium can of course legally happen…
No worries.
sfr- I doubt that has ever happened. Anyway the problem in the Morris case was when team B came along and offered more than team A. Since your example jumped from a to c, I wonder if you left something out.
They should figure out Salary Cap after the Finals are over.
Dude the salary number is released long before free agency starts. This is absolutely ridiculous in baseball, football or hockey once you agree to a contract that is it. Not a fan of San Antonio by any means but what happened to them was not right and this is coming from a Lakers fan. He only backed out of the deal because he could get an extra 5 million this year because don’t you know 10 million his family would have starved LMAO! Once you agree to a contract that should be it just like trades and everything else once they are agreed-upon that should be it.
Would you take a job offer for a 50% salary increase, if you had another offer on the table, but you hadn’t signed yet? I would.
I believe he was making the point he was getting more overall from the spurs 2/20 than the knicks 1/15. So for 5 more this year he backed out of a deal he had agreed to verbally and broke his word. If he has an injury where he misses out this year or something that carries into next year he may miss be down that 5 and teams may be wary to early commitments to him.
Is it his right, yes so have no problems with it but still kind of puts him in bad light.
I think S&Ts should be restricted further as well as the moratorium period. S&Ts are responsible for D’lo on GSW instead of letting the market decide. The fun was taken out of the process, an odd result occurred that shut others out, and elites making rules-evading exclusive arrangements replaced the invisible hand of supply&demand.
The whole get-something-outta-him attitude is dehumanizing.