Adebayor and the Heat completed the renewal ahead of schedule.
The Heat and Adebayor reached a 5-year maximum salary renewal contract. The minimum amount of this contract is 163 million US dollars. If the incentive clause is triggered, the maximum can reach 195 million US dollars. The Heat signed a new contract with Adebayor a year in advance. What impact will this have on their pursuit of Antetokounmpo in 2021? Why does the Heat retain Adebayor with a maximum salary now? Does this mean Antetokounmpo? Maybe stay behind the Bucks? For these issues, ESPN data expert Kevin Pelton wrote an article for interpretation.
Question 1: If Antetokounmpo becomes a free agent next year, will the Heat still have room to sign him?
Yes, but the situation is a bit complicated, depending on the Heat's salary status. The primary question for
is whether Adebayor triggers the award clause in the New Testament. Adebayor's rookie contract is still one year away, and his renewed five-year contract will be implemented from the 2021-22 season. According to the NBA labor agreement, the first year of the NBA's maximum salary contract for players who have not exceeded 6 years (including 6 years) is 25% of the salary cap. The starting salary of the player's maximum salary contract for 7 to 9 years in the NBA Up to 30% of the salary cap, Adebayor, who entered the NBA in 2017, his maximum salary renewal contract with the Heat should be 25% of the salary cap of the 2021-22 season.
However, the Heat renewed Adebayor, using the designated rookie terms, the maximum starting salary of the new contract can reach 30% of the salary cap, provided that the 2020-21 season is selected for the best team or selected as the best defensive player. Adebayor ranked fifth in the selection of the three centers of the best team last season, and the best defensive player award is also ranked fifth, so he may trigger the reward clause in the 2020-21 season, and then start the new contract Salary increased from 25% of the salary cap (estimated to be $28.1 million) to 30% (estimated to be $33.7 million).
If the starting salary of Adebayor’s new contract is 25% of the salary cap, the Heat may clear up the salary space for signing brothers through lineup adjustments while retaining Adebayor and Jimmy Butler (starting salary is 33.7 million USD). Of course, this adjustment is also more painful for the Heat. They may have to send away the team's rising star Shiro, 2020 rookie Presius Achuwa, and give up the priority matching rights of the Duncan-Robinson contract.
However, as long as the Heat can create the conditions for directly signing Brother Antetokounmpo, the Heat will have room for manipulation, and they can draw the Bucks to the negotiating table to sign and change.
If Adebayor is selected as the best team or the best defensive player in the 2020-21 season, the starting salary of the New Testament exceeds the salary cap by 25%, which will increase the difficulty for the Heat to create the salary space for signing Antetokounmpo. The Heat is in this way Under circumstances, you may have to trade Adebayor or Butler to clear the space that can provide a maximum salary.
Question 2: Why are the Heat renewing Adebayor now instead of waiting for another year?
From an operational point of view, the most convenient way for the Heat to pursue top-paid free agents next summer is to postpone Adebayor's contract renewal, but the important premise is that Adebayor accepts such a plan.
If the Heat are not renewing Adebayor now, the All-Star Titans will become a restricted free agent in 2021. The Heat have priority matching rights to Adebayor’s offers and can follow up on other teams’ offers. Keep Adebayor, but there is a problem. If other teams offer Adebayor to allow him to opt out of the contract and become a full free agent two years after the implementation of the new contract, the Heat will choose to match. Two years after the start of the new contract, the Heat will once again face the issue of renewing Adebayor. At that time, the Heat will not have the right to match the offer. The situation will be more complicated. Now that the contract is renewed in advance, the Heat can at least guarantee Adeba. It will not enter the free agent market until about 2025 or 2026.
The Heat also hope to keep Adebayor, which makes him happy, because Adebayor is a core part of the team's culture. In order to pursue big-name free agents, it is risky to postpone the renewal of the star of the team. For example, in 2015, Leonard accepted the Spurs plan and postponed his contract extension with the team to provide the Spurs with a sign. Aldridge's maximum salary space. My ESPN colleague Zach Lowe reports, although Leonard himself understands the Spurs’ internalIn logic, and accept, but that time waiting angered some of Leonard's lineup.
Adebayor's postponement of the renewal means that he has to bear the risk of getting a big contract once he gets injured. Even if the Heat make a promise, it is understandable that Adebayor requires that the renewal be completed now.
Question 3: Does this mean that Antetokounmpo will renew the contract with the Bucks?
Based on my analysis, the Heat do not want to disappoint Adebayor. At the same time, they may still create space to sign Brother Antetokounmpo, so I don’t think that the operation of the Heat this time is that Antetokounmpo will renew the contract with the Bucks. Signal (Guan Antetokounmpo can now renew the super-max contract with the Bucks).
It is also worth noting that the free agency market in 2021 is not a must for the Heat. Clippers stars Leonard and Paul George can opt out of the contract at that time, although their maximum salary contract starting salary is higher (Lai Onard and George wait until 2021, both of them have 10 years of experience in the NBA. The starting salary of the maximum salary contract can reach 35% of the salary cap, which is estimated to be 39.3 million US dollars). The Heat can also consider Oladipo, whose contract expires in 2021.
Regardless of whether it is realistic to sign Brother Antetokounmpo, if the Heat postpone the renewal of Adebayor, it will create greater salary space and better operational flexibility. Maybe the Heat will only take the risk of delaying the contract extension and destroying the relationship between the team and Adebayor only if they feel that they have a chance to get Antetokounmpo. In the coming weeks, we may learn more about the intentions of this operation.
In fact, the Heat’s operation may be to satisfy the 23-year-old All-Star who played a key role in the team's unexpected journey to the finals. At least the Heat have now secured Adebayor, and we can wait and see what happens in 2021.
Editor in charge: Du Gong
