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too bad the mavs knee jerked with kidd.....
Source: Odds 50-50 guard will become free agent
By Geoff Lepper
STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND -- Callers waiting to leave voicemail for Warriors executive vice president Chris Mullin are serenaded by the Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want."
Never has that been more true for Golden State point guard Baron Davis.
After weeks of informal conversations, Davis' agent, Todd Ramasar, met with Warriors officials Thursday to discuss a potential contract extension for his client. But the talks failed to provide any satisfaction for Davis, a two-time All-Star who just turned 29.
In fact, the sides were so far apart in what they perceive as Davis' worth that Ramasar brought up the specter of Davis using his opt-out clause to void the final year on his current deal and become an unrestricted free agent as of July 1.
"After sitting down with the Warriors organization (Thursday) regarding Baron's future, I don't know what direction the Warriors are going," Ramasar told the Times. "Baron is adamant about remaining a Warrior but based on my conversations with the team (Thursday), we have to consider all of his options."
A source close to Davis said it's now a 50-50 chance that the Warriors' captain, coming off a season in which he averaged 21.8 points, 7.6 assists and 4.7 rebounds, will not remain beyond next season after various contract offers that were so low as to be practically hurtful.
Davis is slated to make $17.8 million next season, the final installment of a six-year, $84-million contract extension he signed as a member of the New Orleans Hornets.
That deal gave him the maximum allowable salary under the league's collective bargaining agreement. Davis is willing to give the Warriors a discount and drop down from "max player" status to help Golden State add more talent, but there is a clear difference of opinion in his market value.
Two of the most obvious comparables to Davis in terms of veteran point guards would be Phoenix's Steve Nash, who is midway through a six-year, $63 million deal, and Detroit's Chauncey Billups, who last summer inked a five-year, $60 million extension. (The final year of both those contracts is a team option, making the guaranteed money $50 million for Nash and $46 million for Billups.)
The source said that the Warriors' proposals to Davis were "significantly less" than the total value of those contracts, although it's not clear if the team offered a lower salary per season or similar base pay over a shorter timeframe.
That the sides would be at an impasse is not wholly unexpected. Although Davis said after the season finale on April 16 that he wanted to stay in Golden State, he did allow that, "I'm just waiting on the Warriors, to see if they want me here long term or not."
Just hours earlier, Mullin said that he did not plan to engage in contract talks until Davis' opt-out deadline of June 30 had passed, putting the team in a more advantageous position.
Mullin did not return a phone message Friday and team president Robert Rowell declined to discuss the matter, but the negotiating stance is very much in line with the hard-nosed at ude the Warriors have adopted in recent years with regards to player contracts.
Where previously the team spent more than $100 million over the course of three summers to keep players such as Adonal Foyle, Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy and Jason Richardson from hitting the free agent market, Golden State has become much more careful in its spending. The Warriors and center Andris Biedrins were far apart in failed discussions about an extension last summer, and the team stood pat with lowball, one-year offers that forwards Matt Barnes and Mickael Pietrus eventually accepted.
If continuing that pattern of fiscal responsibility means keeping Davis in limbo for a while, the team appears willing to make that sacrifice.
But it will give Davis time to reflect on whether he wants to be the centerpiece of an organization where not only the athletes are asked to play out their deals, but also the executives: both Mullin and coach Don Nelson are working on contracts that expire at the end of the 2008-09 season.
Davis referenced the uncertainty caused by such lingering monetary issues after the season finale.
"This is the first time I've played on a team where more than half the team was free agents and playing for their futures," Davis said. "I think we did a good job, but it would be better next year if we had a solid foundation."
too bad the mavs knee jerked with kidd.....
Sign-and-trade for Steve Nash.
Agent is bull ting. There's only one team that can afford Baron and that's the Warriors.
Welcome to San Antonio!
Yep thats pretty much it
I think Baron would sign MLE
S/T with Cavs
would be a good move if he's unrestricted this summer. with alot of big-names being free agents, someone will surely overpay just to keep up or catch up.
No. I like Baron Davis, but we already have a few people coming in next season...and won't Davis cost way too much?
Why do you have the Hornets listed as your team?
who is coming in?
D'Antoni and New York need to be all over this with a sign-n-trade. Crawford/#10 for Davis?
Don't we have Splitter and Mahinmi coming in? I, at least, thought Splitter was a definite...
And while it may be a long shot, didn't Spanoulis say he'd possibly be interested in coming to play for the Spurs this next season? I thought I'd read that he wanted to take care of some personal business would be be interested in the possibility of coming back to the NBA next season.
Weren't both late 1st-rounders? They shouldn't take up much.
They could have Crawford, but I would never trade a top 10 pick for a redundant small scoring guard who is 29, but who has one 68 year old knee. They already have a chucker in Marbury, who will do JUST FINE in D'Antoni's system.
It becomes a matter of roster spots. We have bigs rolling off, and one wing player, and really only need one small guard to back up Tony for maybe 13-14 minutes per game. We need younger bigs, and one young wing player.
I don't know where you got the idea that Marbury will be fine running. He never runs. Plus, he's completely done as a high level player.
Swap 1sts, then...
The point is, Davis does run, and is essentually the type of PG D'Antoni would want. He's a star and can excite the Garden faithful.
Davis's shelf life is like maybe 2-3 years before that knee totally goes south in him. Luckily for NY, it ain't Isaiah "fire sale of young talent and draft picks" Thomas in charge any more. I'm doubting that Walsh is going to swap a top10 pick for a short term fix with a gimpy guard.
D'Antoni has never proven capable of developing young talent, although if he's able to bring his brother with him that would help things, but you're giving Walsh a little too much credit since he just hired MIKE D'ANTONI for six million per year.
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