The last restricted free agent on the market finally has a contract.
The NBA’s final marquee restricted free agent has finally signed a contract. JaMychal Green and the Memphis Grizzlies have agreed to a 2-year deal for a little over $17 million, according to Yahoo! Sports’ Shams Charania.
The 27-year-old Green averaged just under nine points and five rebounds per game in 27 minutes for the Grizzlies last year as the starting power forward. He shot 38 percent from three-point range, by far a career high.
What does Green bring to the table?
Green has transformed his game from lumbering post player in college to athletic power forward in the NBA. An undrafted player out of Alabama, Green bounced around the NBA D-League and France for three years, with a brief cameo for the Spurs in between.
But his career slowly blossomed once he signed with the Grizzlies in Feb., 2015. He emerged as a solid reserve in 2015-16, then cemented his place as the starter after new coach David Fizdale moved Zach Randolph to the bench to inject more athleticism into the team’s attack. His shooting range, lateral quickness, and willingness to play without the ball balanced the starting unit, while Randolph was able to be the featured offensive option on the second unit.
So why did this take so long?
Good question. The Grizzlies moved on from Randolph, Tony Allen, and Vince Carter, ostensibly to free money to keep Green. But for whatever reason, Green’s saga dragged out. The market was not kind to Green and fellow restricted free-agent big men like Nerlens Noel, Mason Plumlee, Nikola Mirotic, and Alex Len, all of whom sat on the market until August and September.
Unlike those players, though, Green didn’t have many other options. On account of being undrafted, his one-year qualifying offer was for just $2.82 million, significantly less than Noel or Len. His advanced age due to his winding road to the league also meant that this was his best chance for a long-term deal.
In the end, Green needed to compromise, as Grizzly Bear Blues predicted a couple weeks ago:
The Grizzlies and JaMychal Green should come together and work out a long term deal around the $8-10 million per year range. He will have to come to terms that there will not be as much money on the table next offseason as players think, which Nerlens Noel is going to find out next offseason the hard way. The inflated offseason last year created contracts (i.e. Chandler Parsons) that do not fit the normal market. Teams do and will not have the cap room they thought they would have with the salary cap projections coming in a bit lower than expected this year.
That has now happened, though Green surely would have preferred a longer-term deal.