Sports
2019.10.22 13:11 GMT+8

NBA: Youngsters get new contracts, Williamson out for six weeks

Updated 2019.10.22 13:11 GMT+8
Li Xiang

With some 24 hours before the 2019-20 NBA season starts, multiple rookie players have reached contract extensions with their teams and some of those deals are quite interesting.

Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics reach four-year, $115 million contract

Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics in the NBA pre-season game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at the TD Garden, October 13, 2019. /VCG Photo

Brown finally got what he wanted. 2016 No. 3 select, 22-year-old young man hired a new agent to negotiate a new deal with the Celtics and refused the four-year, 80-million-U.S.-dollar offer earlier without even a blink. In order to keep him and his remarkable athleticism, the Celtics decided to sweeten the pot with another 35 million U.S. dollars. 

According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, Brown has secured 103 million U.S. dollars of guaranteed money. If he wins MVP, Defensive Player of the Year or makes one of All-NBA Teams, he will get another eight million U.S. dollars. If he plays 65 or more games and Boston win 49 or more games and make it to the second round in the playoffs, Brown will receive the last four million U.S. dollars.

Buddy Hield, Sacramento Kings reach four-year, $94 million contract

Buddy Hield of the Sacramento Kings in the NBA pre-season game against the Indiana Pacers at the NSCI Dome in Mumbai, India, October 4, 2019. /VCG Photo

Hield made a confusing decision of accepting the new offer by the Kings. Last week, the 26-year-old guard turned down a four-year, 90-million-U.S.-dollar offer and called it "insulting." The new deal he agreed to sign includes a guaranteed part of 86 million U.S. dollars. According to ESPN, there are eight million U.S. dollars of bonus easily reachable and another 12 million U.S. dollars not so easily available.

Sacramento will be competing for the playoffs in the new season. The team's back-court pair, De'Aaron Fox and Hield must cash in their talents with the support of second-year, explosive forward Marvin Bagley III, 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup All-Star shooter Bogdan Bogdanovic and experienced veterans including Harris Barnes and Trevor Ariza.

Domantas Sabonis, Indiana Pacers reach four-year, $77 million contract

Domantas Sabonis #11 of the Indiana Pacers makes a layup in the NBA pre-season game against the Sacramento Kings at the NSCI Dome in Mumbai, India, October 4, 2019. /VCG Photo

Another case of unsuccessful negotiation being turned into an agreed deal as one side decided to compromise. The Pacers, for sure, wanted to keep Sabonis who averaged 14.1 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists at the field goal rate of 59 percent per game off the bench. His skillful footwork in the posting up was quite impressive and efficient.

Last Saturday, the two sides were not going anywhere in contract extension negotiation and there were reports about Indiana putting a "tradable" tag on Sabonis. However, the 23-year-old big man said he knows "exactly how the Pacers feel about him now." In the end, they reached a new deal that, according to Scott Agness of The Athletic, "does not include any player or team options."

Dejounte Murray, San Antonio Spurs reach four-year, $64 million contract

Dejounte Murray of the San Antonio Spurs handles the ball in the NBA pre-season game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the AT&T Center, October 13, 2019. /VCG Photo

Having remained extremely but understandably quiet for a while, the Spurs made their move by agreeing to a new deal with 23-year-old Murray. Though he missed the 2018-19 season because of torn ACL in his right knee, making the 2018 All-Defense Second Team convinced the Spurs that Murray is a cornerstone player in their future.

As a small market team, San Antonio are no attraction to big names on the market and more so since Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker retired. Moreover, considering that the team never missed the playoffs in the past 22 years, their front office was not able to improve the franchise via selecting promising youngsters. In this way, Murray is probably the best the team can go for. And, before he can meet San Antonio's expectation, Murray needs to work on his poor offense.

Taurean Prince, Brooklyn Nets reach two-year, $29 million contract

Taurean Prince #2 of the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA pres-season game against the Toronto Raptors at the Barclays Center, October 18, 2019. /VCG Photo

The Nets kept Prince with a new deal as part of their efforts to make up for the absence of Kevin Durant. As the No. 12 select of the 2016 NBA Draft, just like the above four, Prince received enough time on the court to adapt to the NBA in the past two years. Having dropped 14.1 and 13.5 points respectively, he proved that he could make steady contributions offensively.

Both Brooklyn and Durant have confirmed that the two-time NBA Finals MVP won't rush to come back but that does not mean the team will let the new season go for nothing. Kyri Irving wants and needs to prove he can lead a team and he surely will want all the help he can get, including that from Prince.

Zion Williamson's debut will be delayed by 6-8 weeks

Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans in the NBA pre-season game against the Utah Jazz at the Smoothie King Center, October 11, 2019. /VCG Photo

Fans waiting to watch Zion Williamson to impress the league will have to wait for longer. The New Orleans Pelicans announced that the super nova will return in six to eight weeks after successful arthroscopic surgery on Monday on his torn right lateral meniscus.

The team found Williamson's knee problem during the preseason games and they made the right call taking it seriously. With a shorter-than-average height of 1.98 meters in the power forward position, the 19-year-old has the second-biggest weight of 129 kilograms, only next to Boban Marjanovic who is 2.24 meters tall. Furthermore, Williamson's explosive play is built on his great athleticism, which will add bigger burden to his knees.

Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics in the game agaisnt the New York Knicks at the TD Garden, March 4, 2012. /VCG Photo

Last Friday, Paul Pierce suggested that Williamson cut down his weight to protect his knees. "The one thing I will say is (with) knee injuries…he's carrying so much weight, he's so athletic. I think he's going to have to lose a little bit more weight. That's one thing that happened to me - I had a bone bruise in my knee in my ninth year, and I decided to trim down, lose about 10 more pounds just to take that extra pressure off my knees. And it really helped," said Pierce.

Unlike many athletic big guys, Williamson has certain posting up skills so he does not have to rely on leaping toward the rim all the time in offense. Besides, during his time of losing weight, he can work on his shooting to diversify his arsenal.

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