EuroLeague free agents joining NBA at end of season a new trend?
The talent evaluators used phrases such as “could be” or “maybe” predominantly and only a handful of evaluators thought it’s a viable option past this season.
“If you ask a front office exec and they say this is a trend, I think they’re being stupid, or they’re not thinking of all the various possibilities,” one NBA executive told HoopsHype.
The same executive recalled the selection of Josh Huestis with the 29th pick of the 2014 draft. At the time, some around the league questioned if it was going to become a new trend to draft a guy in the first round and have him play predominantly in the G League and if Oklahoma City was ahead of the curve? The selection neither turned out to be the way to go for other teams nor a good fit for the Thunder.
Other front office members believe it depends on how the players who recently signed perform in the years to come and where teams are in terms of their salary cap positioning in upcoming seasons.
“If any of those guys succeed, then sure,” an NBA executive told HoopsHype. “Part of why it is becoming a trend is that two-way contracts have diluted the G League pool so much.”
The concept of using cap space and signing a player to more guaranteed money for the rest of a season and multiple seasons afterward on non-guaranteed or team options has been done with two-way players. Doing so with EuroLeague players could be the next tweak to the ideology.
If teams have room or exceptions late in the season, it’s an advantage to get players to sign now rather than in the summer because they can offer more money. The signings of Deck with the Thunder and Vildoza with the Knicks put both teams above the salary floor, for example. Both teams used their salary cap space to sign those players to multi-year deals. If they turn out to be valuable rotation players, the teams got them at a good value. If they don’t, they don’t lose anything and can cut ties without long-term guaranteed salary against the cap.
“I think it could be common for the right players,” another executive told HoopsHype. “Teams have signed G League guys to end of year deals before this. It just has to be a player that is interested and can get out of his deal overseas.”