Kanter signs with Blazers

Oklahoma City restricted free-agent center Enes Kanter signed a four-year, $70 million maximum contract offer sheet Thursday with the Portland Trail Blazers, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

Enes’ deal includes a player option on the fourth year, and a 15 percent trade kicker bonus.

Kanter traveled to Portland on Thursday to sign the offer sheet, and it was sent via email on Thursday afternoon to Oklahoma City. The Thunder have until Sunday to match it and retain Kanter.

Oklahoma City will feel immense pressure to show star Kevin Durant a strong commitment to winning in the final year of his contract, and Kanter is an important part of the Thunder's nucleus. The possibility of losing a young player of Kanter's talent for no assets is extremely remote for the Thunder. GM Sam Presti had planned his payroll and roster for the possibility of a maximum offer sheet, sources said.

After losing All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge in free agency, the Blazers have $25 million in salary cap space.

The Thunder acquired Kanter as part of a three-way deal in February with Utah. Kanter, 23, was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--r ... 12546.html

A decent replacement for RoLo. I can see Portland sniffing a playoffs spot if all their recent acquisitions gel.

Apparently Presti has indicated that he will match the offer sheet.

Personally I'd match it. He's a 23 year old low-post scorer who has averaged 19p/11r since he got traded to OKC. Who cares if he's not a good defender, they've got Ibaka and Adams for that.

If they don't match it, I think it'll be solely down to luxury tax issues, rather than them feeling it's an overpay for Kanter.

He was pretty meh with the Jazz but he was wow with the Thunder. Shit but he played great for 26 games. I think it's a mistake to pay him max. The Blazers would be lucky if the Thunder match the offer sheet. I personally don't think he'd be a good fit for the Blazers.




Btw, man... Kanter's a max player?

I hoped he would stay with the thunder, but not for all that money cmon:/

He was pretty meh with the Jazz but he was wow with the Thunder. Shit but he played great for 26 games. I think it's a mistake to pay him max. The Blazers would be lucky if the Thunder match the offer sheet. I personally don't think he'd be a good fit for the Blazers.




Btw, man... Kanter's a max player?

somewhere along the way I figured the max salary right now won't look as big when the salary cap goes up to $90M. I figure if a team was willing to pay $16M for a starting center with the salary cap at $65M, which is about 25%. If the salary cap goes up to $90M, then the max approx salary $20M is about 22-25% of $90M. Then it might not be the worst idea to plunk down the money now. I think Kanter would have played better with the Jazz if He wasn't playing behind Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap. But if the Thunder lets Kanter go, then I think that might damage their chance with keeping Durant once Durant's contract expires.

I figured this contract was just the new going rate with the increased salary cap. DeMarre Carroll got 4/60, so why is 4/70 so terrible for a guy who can potentially be a 20/10 player?

Plus OKC gave up Reggie Jackson and a first round pick in the deal to get him. So they might as well re-sign Kanter and then just trade him for something of value sometime in the future if he doesn't perform well enough.

Didnt the Thunder already match this contract as he's a RFA?

Didnt the Thunder already match this contract as he's a RFA?

They CAN but they haven't, afaik.

Sorry I thought I saw on Twitter that the Thunder plan to match, when's the 3 days up?

Sorry I thought I saw on Twitter that the Thunder plan to match, when's the 3 days up?

Sunday

Sorry I thought I saw on Twitter that the Thunder plan to match, when's the 3 days up?

Sunday

Cheers and Kevin, thank you for all the off season news feeds you have being posting !

no problem

Thunder match Blazers' offer sheet for Kanter

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City Thunder has exercised its right of first refusal and matched the offer sheet extended to center Enes Kanter by the Portland Trail Blazers, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"We traded for Enes last season with the intention of keeping him as a member of the Thunder for several years to come, and we are excited that he will continue with us," said Presti. "He adds valuable depth to our roster, diversity to our frontcourt and the dimension that he brings offensively will positively impact our team."

Here's hoping he's just as excited to be staying with them.

I'm glad they matched. Thunder can be real challengers to the Warriors and Spurs if they stay healthy.

Kanter won't offer much defensively, but he will make their offense less predictable.

http://espn.go.com/blog/okc-thunder/pos ... ing-kanter

Kanter is a 23-year-old double-double workhorse who gave the Thunder 18.7 points and 11.0 rebounds in 26 games last season. He provides the Thunder something they've never had to complement Westbrook and Durant, a low block monster who can be effective inside and out. Before Kanter arrived at the trade deadline in February, no Thunder center in the Oklahoma City era had ever produced a 20-point, 10-rebound game. Kanter had 11 in 26 games. (For a little more perspective, DeAndre Jordan had seven total last season. Dwight Howard had 11. Al Horford had seven. Blake Griffin had nine. Marc Gasol had eight. No, Kanter isn't better than all of them. But he does produce.)

Here's hoping he's just as excited to be staying with them.

I'm thinking he signed with the Blazers because they offered him a lot of money while knowing that OKC wants him very bad and will match any contract that he signs.

Here's hoping he's just as excited to be staying with them.

He tweeted some emojis before. I assume they mean something positive

Here's hoping he's just as excited to be staying with them.

I'm thinking he signed with the Blazers because they offered him a lot of money while knowing that OKC wants him very bad and will match any contract that he signs.

Seems to be the case.

Shit. They refused to pay Harden but they pay Kanter a max.

Shit. They refused to pay Harden but they pay Kanter a max.

OKC fans will say that they had Perkins back then and they had to choose between him and Ibaka.

It's just a series of poorly made decisions that led to a Harden's departure.

This article puts the Harden vs Kanter situation into context fairly well.

http://espn.go.com/blog/okc-thunder/pos ... 70-million

But, to the giant beard in the room: Why would the Thunder pay a max deal to Enes Kanter and not one to James Harden three years ago? It's a reasonable question to ask, but one that requires a lot more context to explain.

First, the NBA in 2012 was much different than it is in 2015. That was four offseasons ago. There was no $70 million salary cap. In 2012, it was $58 million. Just compare the contracts handed out in that free agency period to the ones in this one. There's a reason for that. And projections have the cap soaring to possibly as much as $100 million, or more, in 2017. Nobody knew that was happening when the Thunder were negotiating with Harden.

Second, the Thunder have always been operating within a specific plan, doing their best to stick to their defined "core values." Those include resisting the urge to overspend and compromise the future before the core members of the roster -- Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka -- reach the primes of their careers. The reason for that is following the new collective bargaining agreement that not only included a more punitive luxury tax, but an extremely threatening addendum to that called the "repeater tax." The Thunder didn't want to spend what was in the coffers before they needed to re-sign Durant in 2016, and Westbrook and Ibaka in 2017. You can look at the profits of the franchise from the last few years -- and they've been impressive, no doubt -- but those would be wiped out in two or three short seasons of paying the nasty repeater tax.

It's not that the Thunder are unique to it, either. Every team in the league is terrified of the repeater tax, even the big-market teams such as the Lakers, Nets, Bulls and Knicks, who are all maneuvering to avoid it. Nobody wants to pay that thing. Especially one that has to be as financially conscious as the Thunder.

They were, however, willing to deviate from those core values with Harden to a degree in offering him an extension totaling to close to $55 million ($5 million short of a max), which would have sent the Thunder well into the luxury tax. That extra $5 million in breathing room, though, was going to help in enabling them the following summer to get under the tax line -- likely by exercising its amnesty clause on Kendrick Perkins -- and reduce their chances of being a repeat tax offender three out of four years by the time 2016 rolled around. Instead, with Harden desperately wanting to leave anyway, the Thunder made their offer and held their ground.

So essentially, the Thunder gambled on differing title windows. They had a four-year look in re-signing Harden before they would've almost assuredly been forced to trade either Harden, Westbrook or Ibaka (again, keep in mind they didn't know in 2012 the cap was going to spike). Or they could try to maintain a championship-level contender built around three really good players -- which they did. Remember, they were in the Western Conference finals two years ago, and are propping open another title window starting this season as they become a tax team. Which again conveniently aligns with Durant's free agency next summer, when he could re-sign for a max deal taking up 30 percent of the Thunder's salary cap.

It's a completely fair discussion to have if the Thunder picked the right window to make their move. Considering they haven't cashed in and won a championship yet, maybe not. But they also haven't been far off, and if not for a few untimely injuries, they might have pulled it off already. And now, the Thunder will have their deepest, most potent roster ever next season, with potentially 12 capable rotation players, all set up to be retained for the long-term. Durant's gotta like that.

What's not fair is comparing Kanter's max to the one the Thunder didn't give Harden. The Thunder have been planning for these seasons all along, trying to make sure their financial ducks were in a row to align with the primes of Durant and Westbrook. Their four-year window with Harden would've been starting with a core of 23-year-olds. Durant and Westbrook will both turn 27 this fall. History says that's when players start winning titles.

The Thunder paid a small snippet of the tax last season, putting one year on the tally. Two more in the next three years, and they're heading for the dreaded repeater. Re-signing Kanter virtually guarantees Year 2 of it. And if everything goes according to plan and Durant re-signs, it will require some salary cap gymnastics to get under it before Westbrook is due for his new contract in 2017. But it's going to be possible to do, because again, the salary cap is going to go bonkers.

So this is the important takeaway: Had the Thunder gone all-in in 2012, instead of adding pieces now, they would be looking to begin a tear down, which isn't what you want to be doing when you've got to re-sign Durant. That's why Kanter's max today isn't comparable to the one the Thunder wouldn't give Harden in 2012. It wasn't just four offseasons ago, it was four salary caps ago, too. That was then, this is now.

I'd argue they made a series of good financial decisions to keep cap flexibility (with one eye on re-signing Durant and Westbrook again). Plus, they have a more versatile and deeper roster now, especially in the frontcourt.

I wholeheartedly disagree. Here's how they financially entrapped themselves into trading away Harden for a washing machine.

http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/e ... ok-already




Harden's a near MVP and has singlehandedly carried his team to the playoffs in last few years. Thunder broke up the dynasty team and some of us in this forum criticized the Thunder hard for failing to retain him. This was foreseeable despite people raving how Jeremy Lamb was a steal in that trade. lel

2013 Thunder could've easily won it all if not for injuries, and that's without Harden. As for the trade, they already had two perennial All-star perimeter players, so it's not so hard to see why they decided to take a chance with Ibaka.

Could've gotten more for Harden, though.

Kanter is a great pickup. Last year his OKC stats looked great.

21.5/12.8/ on over 120 Ortg and over .600 TS%. That 24.9 PER doesn't hurt him.

With the salary cap booming, it's going to take some time to adjust to contracts like his not being that huge. He does deserve it.