JULY 8: The Grizzlies have officially completed Bane’s extension, the team announced in a press release (via Twitter).
JUNE 30: The Grizzlies are signing shooting guard Desmond Bane to a five-season maximum rookie scale extension, agents Jim Tanner, Max Wiepking and Terrence Felder tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
While Wojnarowski says the deal will be worth $207MM, that amount is a projection, as the exact sum will be tied into the league’s salary cap.
Based on Woj’s wording in his reports on the new extensions for Bane and Pacers All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, it sounds as if Bane’s deal will likely not include the Rose rule escalator, which would have allowed him to qualify for a starting salary worth up to 30% of the cap.
If that’s the case, Bane’s new deal will feature a starting salary worth 25% of the 2024/25 salary cap when it goes into effect next year.
As Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial tweets, Bane’s new agreement will now leapfrog All-Star Memphis point guard Ja Morant‘s contract as the priciest in team history. Morant agreed to his five-year, maximum-salary rookie scale extension exactly one year ago.
Bane has quickly outperformed his selection as the No. 30 pick out of TCU in the 2020 draft. Last season, the 25-year-old averaged a career-high 21.5 PPG on .479/.408/.883 shooting splits. He also chipped in 5.0 RPG, 4.4 APG and 1.0 SPG in his 58 healthy games with Memphis. Thanks to the strong play of Morant, Bane and Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr., the Grizzlies finished with the West’s second seed for the second straight season, this time with a 51-31 record.
Injuries to starting center Steven Adams and reserve big man Brandon Clarke greatly impeded Memphis’ frontcourt during its first-round playoff series against the seventh-seeded Lakers, and the Grizzlies fell in six games.
The kid’s definitely earned it.
Has he really EARNED the right to be one of the highest paid players in only his 3rd season? I know all-star and all-nba are subject awards but he’s never earned anything. Crazy
He averaged 21, 5, and 4. P, R, A. of 13 players to do so in their rookie season prior to extension. only one didn’t receive a max extension…Julius Randle. It was automatic. You ve probably never watched a full Grizzlies game.
Thank you KnicksFanCavsFan, he hasn’t earned sh*t
20 pt/gm are u high? Wtf
I didn’t realize Bane was a max type of guy but good for him!
He is not a max player, these kind of deals kill long term team biudling.
The easiest way to understand that a player is not a max player – would any team pay premium for this guy when he gets the max? For Haliburton the answer is yes, for Bane…
Small Market, Player who improves every year, and is a key piece, too good to lose to another team if you want to win. BTW if you paid attention the Grizzlies have their core already, now it’s time to pick up key role players. Exactly how the Nuggets were built
Nuggets we’re built by finding a 7’1″ 285 lb Magic Johnson in the second round, I’m not sure that’s replicable
You mean the same player that was supposed to be a draft and stash? It’s called raw potential and development, nobody knew joker was capable of this star power until around 2020
I think this sends a strong message to Ja and to the fans that the franchise won’t fold if Ja is suspended further, or eventually traded. The Grizzlies want Ja to succeed and be a cornerstone, hence why they signed Rose and Smart. But now that Ja is no longer the highest paid, the Grizzlies are saying hey, get it together kid.
Bane has been great. But this is just another needless early extension. The early extension rules were always dumb, as they’re inconsistent with the purpose of the RSC rules. The damage was contained as long as teams limited these extensions to true max guys. Now its every impactful young player. It challenges the ability of an organization to build a team.
Overpay
Desmond Bane got his bag!!! He’s definitely worth it. He can play three positions and guard three positions. Then he’s extremely efficient. His overall game is nice and will have the Memphis Grizzlies competing for a long time to come.
The numbers being thrown out for the Haliburton and Bane extensions give discrepancies in the estimated cap for 24/25
Bane at 207 (25% max) estimates a cap of 142
Haliburton at 260 (30% max) estimates a cap of 149
A cap of 149 would mean another maximum 10% jump in the cap from this year to next year.
Who is a better player, Banes or Maxey?
To me this is worse than Jordan Poole. Yes Bane is better but damn.