Atlanta Hawks: 5 reasons Paul Millsap shouldn’t be re-signed
5. Age
The remaining pieces of the Atlanta Hawks roster have yet to reach their developmental peak, while Paul Millsap is likely on the tail-end of his prime.
The 32-year-old will reach 850 games played and over 25,000 career minutes early next season and even though he managed to post impressive numbers, signs of the start of a decline became evident.
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Millsap’s field goal percentage decreased by 2.8 percent, all the way down to a career-low 44.2 percent, while his rebounding, block and steal averages all declined from the previous year.
If Atlanta did sign Millsap to a five-year extension, he would turn 37 in the final season of the contract and the productivity of players at that age usually shows a steep drop-off.
Only nine players have averaged 15 points per game over the age of 37, and paying 35 percent of the cap space for a player likely to average fewer than 15 points a night makes little sense.
Point guard Dennis Schroder, the likely focal point of the offense next year, will turn 24 a month before the start of training camp and is years away from reaching his ceiling in the NBA.
After 11 seasons in the league, Millsap is likely much more interested in joining a team in championship contention than being the primary offensive option for a team that will have to fight for a playoff berth.