There were reports last month that Detroit Pistons center
Greg Monroe had to settle for a qualifying offer instead of getting the long-term deal that he wanted.
“Everyone said we couldn’t get an offer sheet, mishandled it,” said David Falk, Monroe’s agent. “It was laughable.”
Now, because he signed a one-year qualifying offer, Monroe is one of the NBA players who could be in the catbird seat, as the new $24 billion, nine-year NBA television package is expected to significantly increase the salary cap in the next few years. Other players in a financially enviable position include, notably, LeBron James, who said last week that he agreed to a two-year deal with Cleveland this summer in anticipation of the new television package.
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Monroe will be in line for a big long-term deal next year.
Photo by: NBAE / GETTY IMAGES
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The salary cap for the 2014-15 season is a little more than $63 million, and published estimates put it as high as $91 million when the new television money comes in starting for the 2016-17 season. NBA Commissioner
Adam Silver has said he would begin talks with the
National Basketball Players Association about “smoothing out” the cap, so that the jump wouldn’t be so steep, a move that could significantly increase the salary cap next summer for NBA players who are free agents. Whether a deal will be worked out wasn’t known at midweek last week, but it’s clear that the value of contracts for NBA players is going up in the future.
Falk said that is one thing he talked about with Monroe. “We told him all year round,” Falk said. “We told him money should be no concern because there will be large money the following year.”
Falk said that two other NBA clubs offered a max deal for Monroe, but that Detroit would not agree to do a sign-and-trade, and that Detroit also offered a long-term deal, though not at the max. A Pistons spokesman declined to comment.
The television deal was one factor why agent Mark Bartelstein negotiated a one-year non-guaranteed deal for rookie forward K.J. McDaniels, who was selected in the second round by the Philadelphia 76ers.
“Everyone in this industry knew this TV deal was going to come in very strong for months,” said Bartelstein, CEO and founder of Priority Sports & Entertainment. McDaniels was offered a four-year deal, the last two years of which were not guaranteed, but with this deal, McDaniels will become a restricted free agent next year.
For every deal, Bartelstein said, he weighs the risk versus the reward, and the television deal was only one factor. “For a player of his caliber and the position he is in, it creates a lot of flexibility for us and gave us a lot of options going forward,” Bartelstein said.
> TLA SIGNS CORREA: The Legacy Agency has signed shortstop Carlos Correa, the No. 1 pick in the 2012 draft by the Houston Astros, for all endeavors.
At TLA, he will be represented by Greg Genske, president of baseball and executive director. He was formerly represented by Kinzer Management Group.
Correa, who was the first player selected No. 1 overall from Puerto Rico, said in a statement that he selected TLA after exploring a number of opportunities for representation. Genske said he did not know who Correa met with, but “I have known Carlos and his parents for some time and I met with him myself.”
Correa is recovering from a broken fibula. Genske said, “Everyone expects him to be 100 percent soon.”
> OCTAGON SIGNS BOB LEY: Octagon has signed Bob Ley, host of ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,” to a full representation agreement including marketing, speaking and broadcasting.
Octagon President Phil de Picciotto will represent Ley, who had been without an agent.
> WASSERMAN SIGNS TEEN: Wasserman Media Group has signed 16-year-old soccer player Alejandro Zendejas and negotiated his 5 1/2-year deal to play for FC Dallas under MLS’s U-17 homegrown program.
Zendejas, a member of the U.S. men’s U-17 national team, will be added to the FC Dallas roster in 2015. At Wasserman Media Group, he is represented by Cory Gibbs, an agent in the company’s global soccer division.
“The sky is the limit for Alejandro,” Gibbs said. “He has opportunities to play in Europe and we bypassed that, because we thought MLS was the starting point for him to develop as a player and a person.”
Liz Mullen can be reached at lmullen@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @SBJLizMullen.
