Milwaukee Bucks: Grading the offseason moves at the halfway mark
1. No extension for Jabari Parker
The structure of a first round pick’s contract is consistent across the league. They make a certain level of pay tied to their draft slot, guaranteed for two seasons with team options for the third and fourth years. Beginning July 1 of the offseason before a player’s fourth season, a team can negotiate an extension to take effect the following summer.
Milwaukee went this route with Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2015, signing their budding star to a four-year, $100 million extension that was immediately a good value for the Bucks. With their next highly-drafted young player, Jabari Parker, the team would most likely have been very amenable to a similar process — until Parker went down last February with his second knee injury in three seasons.
The injury caused a gulf that could not be crossed by the two sides in negotiations. Parker and his agent, Charles Tucker, started off at the max line. They felt that Parker has demonstrated he is a star-level talent, and that he already came back from an ACL tear once before without losing any athleticism.
From the team’s side, Parker was out for yet another season with an injury. What if these injuries plague him for the rest of his career? It’s not unreasonable that Parker will lose athleticism this time around, some of the bounce that makes him such a special player.
With the upcoming summer looking to be one of limited resources, the chances of Parker signing a max-level offer sheet around the league seem low. If he comes back from his injury and blitzes the league, then the risk goes up, but Milwaukee becomes more comfortable paying more for him anyway.
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At this point, as Parker is but a few weeks away from returning and there have been no developments to show that Milwaukee made the wrong decision. They hold most of the leverage and should have the inside track to keeping Parker on the roster for the length of his second contract.
Grade: A