Editor’s note: This story is revised from the print edition.
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AA Sports has negotiated $280.5 million in three rookie contract extensions in the last several weeks, bringing the agency’s total offseason NBA negotiated dollar total to $512.3 million.
CAA Sports represents center Joel Embiid, who signed a five-year, $146.5 million extension earlier this month with the Philadelphia 76ers, who selected him with the No. 3 pick in the 2014 draft.
Also this month, CAA Sports agents negotiated a four-year, $84 million extension for Gary Harris with the Denver Nuggets. Harris was picked No. 19 overall by the Chicago Bulls in 2014 and traded to the Nuggets on draft night.
In late September, the agency negotiated a four-year, $50 million deal for T.J. Warren, picked at No. 14 in 2014 by the Phoenix Suns.
Agents Leon Rose, Aaron Mintz, Michael Tellem, Mitch Nathan, Steven Heumann, Ty Sullivan and Austin Brown brokered the deals.
Earlier this summer, CAA Sports negotiated 12 free agent deals valued at $231.9 million.
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Joel Embiid, getting max extension against the Heat, got a max contract extension, too.
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If Embiid, Harris and Warren had not signed extensions, they would have been restricted free agents next summer.
The only other first-round pick of that 2014 draft who signed an extension was Minnesota Timberwolves guard Andrew Wiggins, who was the No. 1 pick. Wiggins signed a reported five-year, $146.5 million contract, also this month.
In August, ESPN and other media outlets reported that Wiggins’ former agent, Bill Duffy, negotiated a max rookie extension deal for Wiggins, but Wiggins fired him before he signed it.
Last summer, eight first-round picks signed rookie extensions: Milwaukee Bucks forward/guard Giannis Antetokounmpo, Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum, Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams, Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, Minnesota Timberwolves center/forward Gorgui Dieng, Charlotte Hornets center/forward Cody Zeller, Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo and Atlanta Hawks guard Dennis Schröder.
Two second-round draft picks from 2015, Miami Heat point guard Josh Richardson and Toronto Raptors guard/forward Norman Powell, each recently signed four-year, $42 million extensions.
Under the terms of the NBA collective-bargaining agreement that went into effect July 1, second-round picks can sign for 120 percent of the estimated average player contract. Under the old CBA they could sign for only 107.5 percent of their previous salary.
The average NBA player salary for the 2017-18 season is estimated at $7.8 million.
> REED RETURNS TO ORIGINAL AGENT: Los Angeles Clippers center Willie Reed has returned to Joel Bell of Bell Management International.
Reed had been with Bell since 2012 but left him in April for ASM Sports.
> TURNER’S AGENT EXPLORING SPONSORSHIP: Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman and slugger Justin Turner, who won the second game of the National League Championship Series with a three-run walkoff homer, is attracting the interest of potential sponsors. Or his bright red hair is.
Russ Spielman, a partner with TLA Worldwide, has been in talks with companies in the men’s grooming products category since Turner made the MLB All-Star Game on a fan vote, and talks have accelerated in the postseason. Spielman said no deals would be done until after Turner’s season is over, but conversations have focused on his long red hair and long red beard.
“We’ve had a number of conversations with a number of companies that have expressed interest in helping with his grooming, and we are exploring those opportunities,” Spielman said, adding he is talking about both hair care and shaving.
Whatever happens, Turner is not changing who he is, Spielman said. “I don’t think you are going to see him with that first-day-of-school haircut and clean-shaven,” Spielman said.
Turner is represented on the field by TLA Worldwide partner Greg Genske.
Liz Mullen can be reached at lmullen@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @SBJLizMullen.
