If he doesn't take something like a 4yr/$80M contract, then I hope the Cs will look to trade him. I don't exactly love the prospects of hitting the repeater tax in Tatum's extension season if we don't need to and it looks easily avoidable if we play our cards right.
If they don't extend him or trade him, then I think they might actually believe they have a shot of signing Giannis in FA next offseason. Before you correct me and tell me that it isn't possible since we'll be right at the cap already, I am assuming the plan would be to essentially salary dump Kemba (after next season) in order to make this happen.
Note: I do not believe we are actually planning on signing Giannis, I just don't think it make sense to keep Gordon at his current salary on an expiring contract.
So you’re suggesting we play hard ball with him to try to force him to sign an extension? Because if he opts out we can trade him. He’d be a free agent.
Yeah, I’m sure that approach will go over well.
He is a fantastic player, but if he opts out, we will then have the ability to use the full MLE, as well as the BAE. We will also completely avoid any chance of the repeater tax for years to come.
Honestly, is the difference in the quality of our team really that great if Hayward opts out and we sign someone like Gallinari or Tristan Thompson with the full MLE? With the BAE, we would be able to sign another decent player - probably the same level player as if we just used the taxpayer MLE.
Even though we didn't think so at the time, Horford opting out was a godsend for the Cs; I won't go as far to say that I desperately want Hayward to opt out, but the cost of Hayward might not be worth it moving forward. I should note that if we re-sign him on a longer term deal at around $20M/yr, then that might work out for all parties involved.