It's Extension Deadline Day In The NBA And Some Big Names Are Still Looking For Their Payday

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Pretty big day today as we prepare for the start of the 2021-22 NBA season. Before we can get there, we first have to get through Extension Day for the Class of 2018. As you can see with Bobby Marks' tweet, some of the big name players received their extensions long ago and were relatively no brainers. I thought it was interesting that Wendell Carter Jr and Rob Williams got basically the same deal, only with Carter Jr's being fully guaranteed despite also having legit injury issues. I thought getting Mikal Bridges at under 100M was a great deal for the Suns as he's probably one of the more under the radar players the league has

where people might not realize how effective he's been to start his career. He could blossom into a $25M+ player easily given how his trajectory has looked so far. 

So for the rest of those guys, what happens if the deadline passes with no extension? The only situation I can remember recently that a team was forced to trade a player they didn't reach a rookie extension with was Porzingis, who threatened to play on his qualifying offer and then hit the free agent market a year later. That's the true downside, although it's extremely rare to the point where we almost never see that actually happen. Instead, if these guys aren't traded they'll just become RFA's in the summer of 2022 where their team will have every opportunity to match the deal they get on the open market. 

Of that list of remaining names, a few certainly stand out to me in terms of interest level. It starts with Deandre Ayton. He's now the only member of that Suns team that didn't get paid. Booker got his money, Chris Paul got his money, and then over the weekend Bridges got his. We know Ayton is demanding the max, but can they really enter the season with no sort of extension there? Given how the free agent market looks next summer, it's not insane to think a team will offer Ayton the max anyway as a RFA, so why potentially ruin all that good chemistry you built last year over money? The NBA is getting a new TV deal. I know their owner is cheap, but he just dolled out 90M to Bridges and $120M (with some nonguarantees) to a 36 year old point guard. Now he's playing hard ball with a 23 year old center who played a HUGE role in getting to the Finals? That has the potential for disaster if you ask me.

If you were to ask me what player of that group do I think could maybe get traded at some point this year if they don't reach an extension, it's probably Collin Sexton. He's someone that's improved every year, but you hear all the time about a potential fit issue next to Darius Garland. Would it shock anyone if he was ultimately put in a Ben Simmons trade or something? We keep hearing that the Cavs are interested, and it's not for Kevin Love so that's my only reasoning there. 

Jaren Jackson Jr is a tough one to gauge for sure. He's a franchise cornerstone player for MEM along with Ja Morant, but how do you determine his price? He's played 58, 57, and 11 games in his first three seasons. Offensively he's proven to be a legit stretch big, but he doesn't rebound at all (career 4.7). At the same time he's still so young, just entering his age 22 season. I can't imagine he signs for Rob Williams/Wendall Carter Jr money, but I also don't think the Grizzlies are about to hand this dude the max. If that were the case, wouldn't it have happened already? If I had to put a number on it, I think he gets closer to the Bridges number. Somewhere between 18-22M. The Grizzlies have something good going with their rebuild, and at the end of the day I don't see them screwing around with that when it comes to a JJJ extension.

Another interesting case is Kevin Huerter. The Hawks have a lot of people to pay and they just took care of Trae Young and John Collins for a combined 300M. They still have 2/36M left on Bogdanovic's deal, 2/40M on Gallinari's deal, and Cam Reddish is also eligible for a rookie extension this year. With Huerter, he's someone that I absolutely think a team will overpay for in RFA. He's a legit as hell shooter with great size. The defense is an issue at times, but shooting comes at a premium. If the Hawks end up letting him get to the market, he's a guy that could bring back an offer sheet that's too pricey for them to match. Especially if someone like Reddish continues to improve. What's tough here is the Hawks expect to be contenders this year so I can't see them trading off either of those veteran players, so how high would you go with an extension? I'm not sure you can go as high as Bridges because Huerter isn't quite the same type of defender, so maybe like 4/75M? My guess is the holdup here is that Huerter wants elite shooting money which makes this a tough spot for the Hawks moving forward. 

Of that list, I think Ayton, JJJ, Huerter sign on the dotted line today before the deadline. They are too important to their team. I think guys like Sexton, Bridges, Walker, DiVincenzo are destined to be RFAs with really only Sexton as someone I could see moved. This stuff may not seem like a big deal, but it can absolutely bleed into the season and mess stuff up. Guys are thinking about their next deal, maybe it changes how they play which then has a ripple effect on the rest of the roster. It's why teams tend to try and lock this stuff up before the season starts. 

With some big names still unsigned, it should make for a very interesting day.