Under the rules of the new CBA, rookie scale contract extensions are going to become a lot more rare. They are going to be reserved for only the players most valued by their teams because it has now become such a big financial commitment.
The players drafted in 2009 have until October 31 to sign extensions with their teams or else they will become restricted free agents next summer.
Tyreke Evans is one of those players. Evans has not yet signed an extension with the Sacramento Kings, and reports indicate that he will not get one either. After a stellar rookie season, Evans has dropped off considerably, both in his level of play and his attitude. The Kings may not be interested at all in keeping him around, but if they do want to sign him long term, they probably want to see what others teams will be offering him next summer.
You can look down the list of the 2009 Draft class and see that extensions will probably be pretty scarce. Between teams with too many contracts already and teams that just are not willing to put down a max deal for a player, you will have a lot of restricted free agents next summer.
In the new CBA, players can only give five-year contracts to max players, and they can only do it once, like Oklahoma City with Russell Westbrook.
With the new rules you're going to start to see teams be more selective," one team executive said over the weekend. "You can still re-sign them. You just might want to re-sign them for a little bit less than their options.
Selectivity is Tyreke Evans’ enemy at the moment, unless he wants out of Sacramento, in which case this might be a blessing in disguise. In the future, rookie contract extensions will definitely be something to keep an eye on.
Image: NBA.com
