re: CJ agrees to 2 year 64 million dollar extension

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To put in perspective how good of a deal this is for the Pels, the 23/24 salary cap is projected at 143 million, which means CJ will be making roughly 22% of the cap. As a 10 year player, if he went to free agency, he would be eligible for 30% of the cap, or roughly 43 million, so he took around a 24 million dollar pay cut to sign the extension.

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So in 2 years you believe someone would have been offering him a max deal?

He is not a max player now. He is not an expiring contract. So if he played out the next two years, the chances of him being handed a 2 year 64M deal are pretty small. He cashed in now to get the most he can guaranteed.

There was no reason to do this now. We had another year. A year ago he was one of the worst contracts in the league. He played great for us, but at least give it a half a season with Zion..

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So in 2 years you believe someone would have been offering him a max deal?

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If Kyle Lowry at 35 was offered 3/85 (28.3 annual), CP3 at 36 was offered 4/120 (30 annual); you don't think a CJ McCollum would be offered 32mil+ in 2024-2025 when the salary cap is also projected to go up?

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There was no reason to do this now. We had another year. A year ago he was one of the worst contracts in the league. He played great for us, but at least give it a half a season with Zion..

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He was far away from "one of the worst contracts in the league". He is on a 3/100mil deal, amongst guards that puts him at 15th highest paid. Is he a top 15 guard in the league? easily.

You do it now or do it a year later. sans a catastrophic injury, he still ends up 30mil+ contract wise because there's a handful of teams who have the money to sign him outright as well. Doing it now is providing stability for 3-4 years instead of a bunch of question marks and speculation in a year.

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So in 2 years you believe someone would have been offering him a max deal?

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Show me where I stated he would get it. Eligible for and getting it is not the same dude.

As for the rest of your statement, he is currently on a max contract, and he is a max player. As the poster above pointed out, CJ is the 15the highest paid guard, and he absolutely is a top 15 guard.

He shoots the C&S 3 at almost 50%, trust me he will play absolutely fine with Zion

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If Kyle Lowry at 35 was offered 3/85 (28.3 annual), CP3 at 36 was offered 4/120 (30 annual); you don't think a CJ McCollum would be offered 32mil+ in 2024-2025 when the salary cap is also projected to go up?

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Those are premier PGs in a starved market. He has never put up that level of performance as a lead guard.

No. In 2 years I believe he is closer to a mid-level exception type of starter. In the summer of 2024, I don't think anyone would have given him 50M guaranteed over 2-3 years.

He didn't take the contract out of generosity or kindness. Or some kind of hometown discount. He is a smart guy. It's a safe bet, especially with the uncertainty going into this season and how this group plays with each other and massive expectations.

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He was far away from "one of the worst contracts in the league". He is on a 3/100mil deal, amongst guards that puts him at 15th highest paid. Is he a top 15 guard in the league? easily.

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I am not going to play revisionist history. I can link a bunch of articles and videos. He was not looked at as a good deal. Call it a dump, but we gave up very little to get him (plus got Nance). You don't get top players on good deals for what we gave up.

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You do it now or do it a year later. sans a catastrophic injury, he still ends up 30mil+ contract wise because there's a handful of teams who have the money to sign him outright as well. Doing it now is providing stability for 3-4 years instead of a bunch of question marks and speculation in a year.

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It was a knee jerk move and short sighted. It was unnecessary, we could have done this next summer. If it's more expensive, then what does it matter? Everybody says the money doesn't matter. He gets more and we know it's a fit.

BTW, there is zero chance he turns down an extension next summer and "bets on himself". That is fantastical. If he played great, we would have overpaid. He couldn't get more elsewhere..

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Do you really think that Lowry is better than CJ?

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Now? No. He is washed. That is how fast is happens. Would you be shocked if Paul is done this year?

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Now? No. He is washed. That is how fast is happens. Would you be shocked if Paul is done this year?

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CJ can play the next 4 years of his contract with us, and he'll still be more than 1 year younger than Lowry is right now. 2 years younger than Paul is right now.

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whatiknowsofar
CJ is a far better 3pt shooter than Chris ever was, and was asked to do more with less in Portland.

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I don't know what to say to this. If you don't see what Paul is or has done, then I wouldn't know how to convince you. Paul took a lottery Suns team and dragged them to the Finals. If McCollum does anything remotely like that. I will gladly eat crow all day long.

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CJ is going to thrive next year as the 3rd option and it's gonna look insane. He'll probably average 20ppg on the best efficiency of his career.

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I struggle with the math of how people project stats for players this year. We didn't really lose anybody of significance. Zion is going to be a 20-25PPG player. Murphy is making a leap. Those points are coming from other players. Is Val taking a huge dip?

I believe Ingram will be over 20ppg. But McCollum is going to be close. It's rare for three guys over 20ppg. The Hornets almost did it last year. But they did have 5 guys over 15ppg (Hayward missed too many games to qualify). We should have at least 4. It's going to be spread around..

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As a 10 year player, if he went to free agency, he would be eligible for 30% of the cap, or roughly 43 million, so he took around a 24 million dollar pay cut to sign the extension.

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He didn't take a "pay cut" of $24 million CJ was never getting 30% of the cap from anyone. That is reserved for some of the upper echelon of players.

I love how I was laughed at when I said months ago we should extend him 3 years to make it it a 5yr/150 mil contract which is damn near what he got and everyone loves now