Never in a million years would I have expected Stone to come up with this, and for KPJ to sign it. This contract is infinitely worse for KPJ than signing 9-12 million for 4 years, KPJ is only guaranteed to make 15 million in 4 years right now. I am frankly, most surprised KPJ's camp didn't wait until after the season to do this. This is basically a "we have absolutely no leverage" contract, they must have very low confidence in the market.
RFA is tough, those guys get squeezed all the time. If he shows meaningful growth these next 2 years, no reason the rest of the deal isn’t picked up.
So there is a middle ground from "being out of the league in two years" to "Great deal for the Rockets" LMAOOOOOOOOOOO!
KPJ knows how good he's going to look paying next to Green and Smith running the point for them. This is all about the deal after this one. He knows he could get more in RFA elsewhere... but what kind of team would that be? This is a contract that works for both the team and the player
Yeah I mean, if you are going to "bet on yourself" why wouldn't you go for a touchdown in RFA? This is like betting on yourself, but betting on your ability to get over the 50 yard line instead of getting a touchdown. And the downside is still the same negatively. I guess it speaks towards KPJ might needing some cash now rather than a year from now.... which I guess I can sympathize with. It's his agent's job to convince KPJ otherwise that he'll have more upside and the same downside to wait for RFA.
In RFA you might not end up in a good situation which harms the next contract. With this deal KPJ takes less money to stay in a better situation.... and he becomes an unrestricted free agent at 27 years old when he'll be at or close to his peak. If things go well, that could easily be a max. A potential max in 2027 with a cap projected to be more than 40 mill more than it is today would more than make up for anything he sacrifices today.
Why would KPJ sign the deal? His stated the organisation saved his life and maybe he wants to repay the faith? Don’t get why people hate on him so much at all
So them guaranteeing him at triple times his contract this year, when they did not have to means what exactly to you? The NFL dooes not give gurantted 1 year deals at this rate and they usually give money in the form of a signing bonus which prorates. Your example makes no sense but anything to try and throw shade on KPJ, right? Any Rockets fan should be happy, but we got people in here still wanting to besmirch KPJ, why? What is the point you are trying to make?
Do you not see the non-guaranteed part of the deal. You sound like you have won. But actually it's what most of us wanted, which is NOT committed to KPJ long term with a big contract. This deal is only committed to 15.68m for one year. Essentially the Rockets are paying him that much to prove himself. If he is worth that much after the season, he's locked up for 4 years. If not, they can let him go. This is an very team friendly deal. Which is a win for everyone who wants the good of the team.
lol yeah the reaction from the “pay KPJ now or else you will regret having to pay him even bigger later” crowd has been pretty baffling. They saw that initial 4/82 report and the premature parade was rolling. Then the details trickled out and it was more in line with what the majority of people were hoping for, a cautious limited commitment approach to an extension.
You're not reading the room well. All these loudmouths who enjoyed the snark and petty all summer NOW want to enjoy the "team friendly" deal especially when it comes in at what 15Ms per year!?!? Hmmmmmmmm I wonder who was saying that would be a perfect number to be at? At the time it was dismissed as too much and now its perfect? The irony. So what now you guys can latch onto he will only see one year of the contract and be dumped soon after? You dont think this kid can outgrow this deal? Cmon now.
So... in your opinion, 4/82 is "more in line with" those who said pay him nothing over his cap hold than with those who said to pay him a discount rate of 15-20 mill a year now to avoid paying him more next year? How does that work?
If he knew he would get more in RFA, why would he sign such an unfavourable contract? The reality is either: 1. KPJ enjoys this team so much that he is deliberately taking one of the worse type of contract possible for a basketball player (unguaranteed contract) of his age and caliber. 2. He and his agent assessed the market and realized that it's not looking favorable for him. Frankly, I don't care what the reason is. The only thing that matters is the Rockets have managed to create a contract with practically unlimited upside, and entirely eliminated all potential downside. Most importantly, KPJ has to prove every single season that his attitude is under control, so the Rockets also controlled for that as well. This is exactly the type of contract that most people here wanted with KPJ, but what most people didn't expect is that KPJ actually signed it. I would have expected his agent to negotiate 10-12 million for 4 years instead, since that is significantly more guaranteed money.
