03-10-2020, 05:40 AM
Quote below is from Saad Yousuf in an article in The Athletic yesterday about Hardaway. It doesn't name a number, but speaks to the logic of both side being interested in an extension this summer:
"If I’m Hardaway, I opt in and play the next year out and try to land a big deal in 2021. If I’m the Mavericks, I try to get a three or four-year extension done but it has to obviously come at a reasonable price that allows you to keep a deep bench intact and be prepared to make a move for another quality player. He’s their third-best player right now (a competition for that title with Dorian Finney-Smith, if you ask me) but if Hardaway is your fourth-best player, and you have a solid bench the way the Mavericks do, you can be a championship contender. That means you lock him in and get a player that’s better than him. It gets tricky, though, because he’s not exactly young anymore. He turns 28 in exactly one week, which means if he opted in and waited for the summer of 2021, he’d be a 29-year-old free agent. Going all in this next season could be a risky proposition for him, financially. Perhaps it’s in the best interest of both parties to agree on an extension for a good price."
https://theathletic.com/1663512/2020/03/...in-dallas/
"If I’m Hardaway, I opt in and play the next year out and try to land a big deal in 2021. If I’m the Mavericks, I try to get a three or four-year extension done but it has to obviously come at a reasonable price that allows you to keep a deep bench intact and be prepared to make a move for another quality player. He’s their third-best player right now (a competition for that title with Dorian Finney-Smith, if you ask me) but if Hardaway is your fourth-best player, and you have a solid bench the way the Mavericks do, you can be a championship contender. That means you lock him in and get a player that’s better than him. It gets tricky, though, because he’s not exactly young anymore. He turns 28 in exactly one week, which means if he opted in and waited for the summer of 2021, he’d be a 29-year-old free agent. Going all in this next season could be a risky proposition for him, financially. Perhaps it’s in the best interest of both parties to agree on an extension for a good price."
https://theathletic.com/1663512/2020/03/...in-dallas/