ESPN's Amin Elhassan on Leonard's future contract

Leonard is NOT taking a paycut. He doesn't even need to. The APY on a max for him isn't even that high. He'd just be giving money away for no reason.

he's up for an extension after the big 3 have their contracts off the books. they can, should, and will pay him what he rightly deserves

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Originally Posted by DMC

Same guy who predicted the Thunder even after Ibaka went down.

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He also picked the Lakers to beat us in 6 last year WITHOUT Kobe, lol.

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Originally Posted by spurraider21

he's up for an extension after the big 3 have their contracts off the books. they can, should, and will pay him what he rightly deserves

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And that's going to be like at worst $15.5M APY. With the way the cap's increasing, that's nothing. As I said, I simply don't see anyway Kawhi doesn't get an extension this off-season. It would be one thing if the media talked up Leonard while Pop downplayed him. But Pop loves him and has all but said the Spurs would be willing to pay the max to keep him. (And looking at how many max second deals got handed out recently, I can't say they're too crazy.) It's gonna get done, and the Spurs will have a chance to put together a good team in 2015 with him as a key part.

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Originally Posted by Chinook

And that's going to be like at worst $15.5M APY. With the way the cap's increasing, that's nothing. As I said, I simply don't see anyway Kawhi doesn't get an extension this off-season. It would be one thing if the media talked up Leonard while Pop downplayed him. But Pop loves him and has all but said the Spurs would be willing to pay the max to keep him. (And looking at how many max second deals got handed out recently, I can't say they're too crazy.) It's gonna get done, and the Spurs will have a chance to put together a good team in 2015 with him as a key part.

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Bonner's coming off the books this offseason, right?

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Originally Posted by SpurPadre

Bonner's coming off the books this offseason, right?

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yep, all 3.95 mil

Bonner's contract still pisses me off. He could have become a great piece if traded right. I like Bonner a lot, though, so it's not as bad as the Spurs burning Jack's contract last season.

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Originally Posted by spurraider21

yep, all 3.95 mil

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Excellent but then again, that doesn't mean he won't come back in some kind of capacity.

Shut down Durant and Lebron for 6 more wins and I don't give a fuck what they pay him.

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Originally Posted by hsxvvd

Shut down Durant and Lebron for 6 more wins and I don't give a fuck what they pay him.

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this. If Kawhi helps the Spurs get no. 5, they can unload Fort Knox on him, I don't care.

Kawhi is that good that there's a lot of good players I consider now to be poor mans Kawhi Leonards.

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Originally Posted by rmt

Don't see how he could ask for more than what Parker's making. Hope Duncan and Manu take major paycuts so they can re-sign Leonard and Mills.

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Duncan HAS been taking pay cuts. Manu is too. I know most people don't think so but Manu could probably get payed double to go play for ....Real Madrid for example. Asking them for anymore cuts dosent seem fair. They have families so why would they take more cuts ya know

Remember how Danny green was MIA in ten 2012 playoffs! Thank god bc that's how we got him for so cheap

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Originally Posted by DMC

True, there's no reason for a person like Kawhi to sacrifice 25% of his pay so Peter Holt and company can continue to get bigger paychecks. They aren't playing for St Jude's, so it's a business and business is about being in demand and capitalizing while your stock is high.

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Originally Posted by Chinook

$60M/5 is a fine deal for both sides. I don't see how Leonard doesn't get extended unless he wants the max and the Spurs balk. Then again, there was talk earlier in the season that the Spurs could to a little cap-manipulation by waiting to give Leonard a new deal until July 2015. That would allow the Spurs to use Leonard's cap hold (only about $5 Million) on their cap instead of whatever Kawhi ends up making in his first season. In such a scenario, the Spurs would have enough money to sign any max player AND an MLE-like deal. If SA is content to give Kawhi a max extension, there is literally no downside to that move, other than pissing Leonard off potentially.

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I've been beating this drum of explaining the Cap stuff to Kawhi and his agent, offering a below market deal to him and being willing to go max later. With limited timing for signing new free agents, it just makes a ton of sense. If he doesn't want to take the risk(understandable ) you get him at a cheap price, and the difference between a 4yr 40/44/48m deal and his cap hold isn't huge in his first year.

Main thing for 2015 summer to me is keeping Danny Green. While he won't get paid like Kawhi, the fact he's a RFA means he's more likely to leave, and DG is pretty important. If you have Tiago/Gap/Kawhi/DG/TP with a bench it should be easy to offer a good role to Love/Aldridge/Millsap etc and add some key reserves to complements whoever comes from the past few drafts.

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Originally Posted by Prose

Duncan HAS been taking pay cuts. Manu is too. I know most people don't think so but Manu could probably get payed double to go play for ....Real Madrid for example. Asking them for anymore cuts dosent seem fair. They have families so why would they take more cuts ya know

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I don't remember a player who has willingly taken a pay cut for his first big contract ( post rookie deals ). Duncan wasn't that guy and neither was Manu.

4/48

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Originally Posted by hemann82

when duncan retires ... 2 more years? parker will be on the decline most prolly. kawhi should be on the way up/maxing out; so yeah it's conceivable in 3, 4 years sugar k could be #1 and TP #2

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Parker will not probably be on decline in two years. Parker is already in decline. He won't be having any more 55 point games in the future. He can't stay healthy, and he is on the wrong side of 30. He, unlike Duncan, has derived much of his advantage from speed. He may be viable for another five or six years, but it will already be in a diminished capacity. We are burning his candle at both ends to squeeze what we can out of it for Duncan's final years. There has been a dearth of great point play before him in San Antonio. Avery was a nice guy, but not a great point guard, Claxton had a Speedy exit, and Strickland had no jump shot. Ford was a surprise, and a surprise loss. Mills I like but isn't a true point, and Joseph isn't the answer. Tony has been a godsend, but make no mistake, his injuries are a harbinger of a horde on the horizon. He is hard on his body. We will need a point very soon.

.....yeah 4/48 sounds right.