Davis Bertans, who is making $7MM this year, will be a free agent at the end of the season and many around the league expect his next contract to be a lucrative one.
“He’s going to be a hot commodity.” a rival Eastern Conference front office executive told Hoops Rumors. “He’s earned himself a sizeable raise. $15MM per season isn’t out of the question. $20MM? It’s possible.”
That isn’t the first time we’ve heard numbers in that neighborhood thrown around in reference to Bertans. A former front office executive who spoke to David Aldridge of The Athletic earlier in the season estimated that the 27-year-old would get a multiyear deal worth $15-20MM annually.
The free agent landscape this summer may not be as player-friendly as it has been in recent years, since there aren’t many teams projected to have significant cap room. Still, that won’t stop teams from pursuing their top targets.
“If a player wants to sign somewhere and a team wants him bad enough, they’ll find a way,” the Eastern Conference executive said. “We just saw a bunch of sign-and-trades. We’ll see more.”
By all accounts, the Wizards still plan to keep Bertans through the trade deadline. GM Tommy Sheppard is a huge fan of the power forward and Bertans’ presence in Washington had an influence on the team promoting fellow Latvian big man Anzejs Pasecniks to the 15-man roster. Still, it’s worth wondering whether Bertans’ potential price tag in free agency will make the team reconsider the possibility of a trade either before the February 6 deadline or after the season (via sign-and-trade).
[RELATED: Wizards GM: We “Intend To Keep” Davis Bertans]
Bertans, who came to the Wizards via a three-way trade with the Spurs and Nets, is enjoying a breakout campaign. He’s one of just six players this season making three triples per contest while hitting them at a 40% mark or better.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
20 million is what it costs to get you a guy who scores 15 points and pulls down 4 boards a game on a bad team these days.
That’s 4.8 boards/game but I won’t be at all surprised if he gets $20M/year from someone besides Washington this summer.
Idk why teams are keen on keeping guys you can just resign in the off season…..
He’d fetch a 1st and possibly a 2nd round pick easily and Washington isn’t exactly oozing with talent currently.
Washington should trade Bertans for the best pick they can get. Trade Beal in the off-season for a Paul George level package that sets their franchise up for years to come.
Ish Smith and Isiah Thomas could both fetch 2nd rounders for a team looking for depth.
Wizards should look to trade him because theres no point in paying him 20 mil next year.
Still think Iain Mahnimi and Davis Bertans for Harrison Barnes and a second rounder works well.
Bradley Beal says he wants people that’ll play good defence and players that’ll help him win games. Barnes is from the same draft class, has championship winning experience, plays both ends of the floor, can play as a 2nd option or 4/5th.
Kings said they regret giving him that big deal and this would clear them of doing that while getting a good expirind deal and good player in return. Kings can then let Bazemore (18m) and Mahnimi (15m) leave and afford to resign Bogi and Bertans on decent deals.
Kings would have a good roster with Fox facilitating, Heild your go to scorer, Bogi and Bertans your smart floor stretchers and Bagely the physical big.
This team would be exciting to watch, very quick and smart, have good outside shooting and not be terrible defensively. Then off the bench you have role players Joseph, Dedmon, Bjelica and Holmes.
Wizrads on the other hand would enter next year with a fully fit John Wall, Bradley Beal, Harrison Barnes, Rui Hachimura and Thomas Bryant. Plus Ish Smith, Motz Wagner and some other young guys. That could be good enough for a playoff spot in the East, right now they only sit 3/4 wins out and Barnes would be a boost
For the Wizards, there’s certainly no point in paying Harrison Barnes $22M next year. His shooting percentages, per 36 totals and net rating are all worse than Bertans’. And he has still 3 guaranteed years. It would be a terrible trade for Washington.
Bertans is having a career year and literally the only good year of his career. Barnes this year on an average/below average year and is putting up almost identical numbers.
Both players average 15 points, both players average 5 rebounds and Barnes averages 0.5 assists more.
Percentage wise Barnes is shooting a better FG%, Bertans a better 3P% and FT%.
But defensively Barnes is easily better, Barnes can also play SF and PF, Barnes has championship and playoff experience, Bertans has never started a playoff game. Barnes best season scoring was 2 seasons of 19 points, Bertans is 15 points. I could go on…
Beal said he wants players to help him win games that he finds winnable which they seem to be losing. Bertans is a better shooter but Barnes is a much better all round player.
It sounds like Beal would much prefer a trade for a Barnes type. Bertans would have to be covered for on defense and Beal would not be there for it since he has his own thing with Wall and in getting to the ASG.
Beal could be a problem when Wall returns.
I don’t think anyone in the league wants Barnes for $61M in the next 3 years. He’s not a bad player, but he’s not worth that either. Kings regret giving him that big deal because it is a bad deal.
Indeed, one of the worst deals of the summer, Barnes is kind of good, but not really good at anything, overrated. I mean Dallas couldn’t get rid of him quick enough.
I can think of 15 worse deals in the league than Barnes.
CP3, Love, Russ, Griffin, Hayward, Horford, Batum, Deing, Zeller, Dedmon, Waiters, Johnson, Exum, Felicio, Miller and so on
Put some respect on Barnes name bro. He’s an NBA champion a Team USA player and just a solid player. He’s not amazing but he’s a role player. He can go off for 25 if you want him too but more often than not he will just give you 15/6/2 while guarding the oppositions best wing or forward.
Have you not seen what Chris Paul has done for the Thunder? His leadership and vast knowledge of the game and desire to win no matter what has made the Thunder an enjoyable team to watch and while they may not be championship contenders this year, they could very well be a disruptive team in the playoffs. His sheer presence on the Thunder this year has Shröder playing the best ball of his career, and will help develop SGA into a superstar. Being a Thunder fan and as much as I love Russ, I’m so happy about the offseason moves the Thunder made this year. They are shattering everyone’s expectations this year and are set up to be a force in the near future with one of the best GMS in the NBA.
Sure, there are worse contracts than Barnes’… which doesn’t mean his contract isn’t bad. I’m not disrespecting anyone: I said Barnes is not a bad player. It’s not his fault that the Kings overpaid him.