RICHARD JEFFERSON opts OUT!!

[ducks]

he likes new jersey would he do a sign and trade there

[FkLA]

Correct me if im wrong but you dont neccesarily have to be over the cap to get the MLE, I believe there's like a limit...like 2-3 mill or something. So if say the cap is 58 mill as long as the Spurs are like at 56 mill they still get the MLE although they do lose the LLE. Also you can sign a player with your cap-room the first few days and once youre at the cap you'll get the MLE.

Still horrible news but it wont be doomsday if the Spurs are indeed below the cap with this move.

[Spurs Brazil]

I'm actually not that surprised. Yesterday I posted this when ESPN prematurely listed RJ as not opting out:



The rumor was from a good source and I hadn't heard anything different. That'll teach me to listen to ESPN . . .

Anyways, I think it's the right move for Jefferson.

1) I don't think he liked his role with the Spurs. He tried to talk as if it didn't bother him but the fit was just horrible.

2) From the rumor I heard, the Nets are really hot on his trail. Truth is, RJ never wanted to leave New Jersey. With a win-now coach in Avery Johnson in place, the Nets could sign Jefferson and someone like Amare Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer or David Lee (or even Chris Bosh) and have an impressive starting lineup of Devin Harris, Courtney Lee, Richard Jefferson, Big Name Power Forward and Brook Lopez.

3) With the CBA expiring, RJ would be smart to cash in this summer rather than risk it and go into next summer's unknown.

4) Another year in the Spurs' system would lower his stock a lot. He'd be a year older and I don't think he'd really see his stats improve. If anything, I think he'd get worse with Parker and hopefully Splitter eating up more shots. Right now, his stock is down but not horribly down. Other teams could justify his bad season as an adjustment to a difficult system to learn.

5) He's proven to be durable the last few years but with an ankle surgery in the past and back problems last year, RJ would be playing with fire by trying to get through another 82 games before inking his last deal.

6) There is an unprecedented amount of money for free agents this year. A feeding frenzy is about to take place the likes the NBA has never seen. RJ won't be a prime target but he's a solid fallback plan. For a contender, would you rather roll the dice on an enigmatic player like Rudy Gay or a more sure-thing like Richard Jefferson? When it's all said and done, I think RJ gets that four-year, $35-40 million deal I was hearing rumors about.

And for the Spurs timvp? Who do you think they'll target now?

[timvp]

The best news to me about this is the Spurs won't have to dump Tony Parker if Holt tells the front office that he doesn't want to pay lux tax.

[TDMVPDPOY]

this is even more bad news if we resign mason just to replace RJ departure?

[Basileus777]

The Nets don't have any interest in RJ, stop dreaming. We dumped him for Yi (garbage) and expirings when he was still a decent player.

[EricB]

Relax everyone.

Spurs will still have the MLE and the LLE.

Full MLE goes to Splitter, MAYBe, then what?

[clubalien]

I don't think it puts them under the cap. I think it's close, but I didn't look at the numbers.

hmm may I ask if you have a source that is confirming the salary cap or are you just using the projected the cap of 56 million.

The cap isn't released until July. If you do have the number it is nice that we have insider info on this board.

[JamStone]

Spurs do get under the cap, but not more than the the value of the MLE so they still only have the MLE to spend at the most.

Hurts the Spurs in two regards: 1) lose a small forward they can't replace in terms of finding a similar caliber of player based on (financial) value and 2) as several have mentioned, they lose Jefferson's expiring contract as a trade chip mid-season.

It wasn't a good thing financial. Probably a good thing in terms of the product on the court.

Jefferson probably sees what Paul Pierce saw in the potential looming changes of the CBA and wants to get a few more years of security as opposed to having to settle for MLE type of money or less when he's a free agent next year. However, the problem with Jefferson is what teams really value him very highly? He may just be pressing the Spurs into re-signing him for a couple additional years since they still have no money to spend.

Best approach I think is to just let him walk, don't even worry about a sign-and-trade, and hope a couple of the lesser free agents don't get much interest and sign a guy like Mike Miller or Travis Outlaw to the MLE.

[Sausage]

Woo

[BadMotorscooter]

If I'm the Spurs front office...I am on the phone with Raja Bell right now before he signs with the Lakers.

[mingus]

i think the people that are happy about this from a team prespective assume that change = progress.

[Penya]

STEIN_LINE_HQ

1987: Spurs win David Robinson lottery. 1997: Spurs win Duncan lottery. 2010: Spurs win lotto again w/R. Jefferson opting out of $15.2 mil

[Creation88]

The best news to me about this is the Spurs won't have to dump Tony Parker if Holt tells the front office that he doesn't want to pay lux tax.

[EricB]

Spurs do get under the cap, but not more than the the value of the MLE so they still only have the MLE to spend at the most.

Hurts the Spurs in two regards: 1) lose a small forward they can't replace in terms of finding a similar caliber of player based on (financial) value and 2) as several have mentioned, they lose Jefferson's expiring contract as a trade chip mid-season.

It wasn't a good thing financial. Probably a good thing in terms of the product on the court.

Jefferson probably sees what Paul Pierce saw in the potential looming changes of the CBA and wants to get a few more years of security as opposed to having to settle for MLE type of money or less when he's a free agent next year. However, the problem with Jefferson is what teams really value him very highly? He may just be pressing the Spurs into re-signing him for a couple additional years since they still have no money to spend.

Best approach I think is to just let him walk, don't even worry about a sign-and-trade, and hope a couple of the lesser free agents don't get much interest and sign a guy like Mike Miller or Travis Outlaw to the MLE.

The Spurs need that money for Tiago Splitter.....

[SenorSpur]

Unexpected, but I can understand why he did it.

He can go back to NJ and collect another 3-4 year contract at near max dollars. Or perhaps the Knicks will come calling. Either way, you can bet he wouldn't have opted out if he didn't have some assurances that another club was waiting in the wings.

As others have stated, the downside for the Spurs is they lose a valuable trade chip and have no SF replacement.

[ohmwrecker]

Relax everyone.

Spurs will still have the MLE and the LLE.

Minus a starting SF . . . Splitter gets the MLE aaaaannnnddd we're ed.

[yavozerb]

If the spurs want to compete this year the TP trade is now looking very good..Replacing RJ with Gay and TP with Hill is not out of the question anymore in my opinion.

[Mel_13]

Full MLE goes to Splitter, MAYBe, then what?

Hope for a S&T with team that signs RJ. If the Spurs can get a good sized trade exception in return they could get a decent player from a team trying to shed salary.

[mattyc]

BBB: Bring Back Bruce.

[ace3g]

WojYahooNBA

Jefferson must have a new deal in place with Spurs to opt-out. Or elsewhere. He can't be blindly doing it.

[Creation88]

stop bringin up the SF BS. RJ didnt even play SF last season.

[Spurs Brazil]

WojYahooNBA
Jefferson must have a new deal in place with Spurs to opt-out. Or elsewhere. He can't be blindly doing it.
2 minutes ago via UberTwitter

[Libri]

Jefferson must have a new deal in place with Spurs to opt-out. Or elsewhere. He can't be blindly doing it.

http://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA

[Kori Ellis]

Bring back Bruce Bowen for the minimum