Brooklyn Nets Sign Donatas Motiejunas To Offer Sheet
The Brooklyn Nets have signed power forward/center Donatas Motiejunas to an offer sheet.
The Brooklyn Nets tried hard to upgrade their team this offseason in free agency. Unfortunately, their main targets, Allen Crabbe and Tyler Johnson, were both restricted free agents. As restricted free agents, their respective teams, the Portland Trail Blazers and Miami Heat, were able to match the offer sheets they signed with the Nets.
The Nets are dipping back into the restricted free agency pool once again as they have signed Donatas Motiejunas to an offer sheet. The news was first reported by Marc J. Spears of ESPN’s The Undefeated after being rumored for mulitple days. The deal is reportedly a four-year, $37 million agreement between the Nets and Motiejunas.
The Nets have signed restricted free agent forward Donatas Motiejunas paying $37 million over four years, league sources told ESPN.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) December 3, 2016
The Houston Rockets, Motiejunas’ last team, will have until Monday to match the offer. The two parties have been at an impasse for multiple weeks and the standoff leaked into the regular season. The Rockets even pulled their last offer after the November 23rd deadline. Since that deadline has placed, the Rockets will be able to match the offer sheet if they please, but Motiejunas will not be able to be traded for a least one calendar year.
The reported offer from the Nets goes above what the Rockets were offering, which was rumored to be, at most, $7 million per season. The Nets deal has a yearly average of $9.25 million but that does not tell the whole story.
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When digging deeper you will see that there are plenty of provisions in the contract to protect the team from Motiejunas’ constant back problems. The last two years are non-guaranteed according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical with deadlines that the team will have to make decisions in regards to keep Motiejunas throughout.
It is an interesting signing for the Nets, as they are looking to acquire talent in any way possible. But, they already have a player that is similar to Motiejunas in Justin Hamilton and at a fraction of the cost.
This is still a worthwhile gamble for the Nets to take. Motiejunas is only 26-years old and has room to grow. He has already shown the ability to play alongside a talented center as a stretch-four, as he started alongside Dwight Howard with the Rockets. He is also a better defender than Hamilton, but he would give the Nets some much needed depth.
Right now, Hamilton is the only backup center the Nets have. With plans to limit the playing time of Brook Lopez, it would make sense to have more depth to execute that plan. Motiejunas would provide that, while giving the Nets a potential building block in the front court.
With the way the roster is setup, this is a no-lose proposition for the Nets. If the Rockets do not match, they get a chance to see what a young player has to offer. If he struggles with injuries, or is ineffective, they have multiple chances to wipe their hands clean of him.
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While Motiejunas is a good fit for the Nets, he also remains a good fit for his old team, the Rockets. They are rumored to still want to keep him, so there is a chance that the Nets will strikeout on three restricted free agents this season.