If you think the only reason he'd resign is the money, and that otherwise he'd leave, then he's leaving. Your RFA is your 'i play for the money' contract, your second one, winning matters more, he even strung it out and accepted his option, so he probably feels like the 5th year is house money anyway.
He was definitely impressive, haven't seen too much of him. They said he had the highest vertical on the team, which is crazy with all those athletes. Seems like his floor is a top backup PG, haven't watched enough to guess what his ceiling could be. With a solid jumper, he'd be pretty dangerous (sound familiar lol).
Looking good at the moment. The real test will be if he chokes up in the playoffs and reverts to old habits. We'll see.
I mostly agree with you except when the 5th year is an extra $30 million. He's going back to the Lakers.
If Dwight misses a few shots, he gets completely frozen out, he was given 1 offensive possession in the entire 2nd half and it ended with him getting bearhugged.
When you're worth $300 million, $30 million isn't that much (and barring a career ending injury, it's not like he'd be unable to sign for that final year), just as he wouldn't have resigned with us had we traded for him and had him feeling the team was going nowhere. Dwight wants to compete for championships, win titles, and there's really no chance of that at the Lakers during his career. They're trying to sell him on going after Lebron in 2014, I mean seriously even their dreams have a limit, there was as much chance of that as Jordan joining them, they're headed for another post magic drought.
This extra 30 million is a little overplayed. It assumes that if he signed with another team that he would retire after the four year contract. Considering that he is 27 another max contract despite his injuries is pretty likely. The guaranteed year is still important but it isn't 30 million or nothing.
With the new CBA, the fact he'll be 31 in four years with no certainty of good health, $30 million guaranteed for the 2017/18 season is overplayed VERY little. Dwight's recently shaky health makes it doubtful another max contract is coming. You can no longer assume he will age well. There is serious doubt he will ever be the same player as in Orlando. My opinion about wanting the Rockets to max him out this summer has changed from definitely yes to maybe. If he doesn't display consistent dominance at some point this season, Rockets should consider taking a pass. Maybe it's time to give up on Dwight ever developing skill on offense. Perhaps Hakeem will be a miracle-worker this summer. I will be shocked if he doesn't return to the Lakers. $30 million guaranteed with the marquee franchise in the NBA, plus maxmizing his endorsement opportunites plus living in LA = Staying put IMO. Maybe he'll surprise.
We all know Dwight's full of surprises. It's hard to predict what he's going to do since he's so indecisive.
