Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Can De'Andre Hunter Earn a Contract Extension like RJ Barrett?
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Late Monday night, basketball fans were startled by a notification from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. The NBA insider broke the news that RJ Barrett and the New York Knicks were finalizing a four-year, $120 million rookie-scale contract extension.
Naturally, some critics on social media said the Knicks overpaid for the 22-year-old. That is a fair debate to be had.
But the NBA is a lot like Newton's Third Law of Motion - for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The deal essentially withdraws the Knicks from the Donovan Mitchell trade talks.
But Barrett's new contract also impacts De'Andre Hunter's ongoing negotiations with the Atlanta Hawks. In July, we learned the two sides were roughly $20 million apart and have not received any updates since that time.
As a product of the 50 Cent generation, I'm all for getting your money. Just last week, I broke down how five Hawks players can get paid next season. I'm always pro player, pro bag, and pro fleecing billionaires.
But Hunter's contract extension can't come anywhere close to Barrett's new deal. Barrett has played 65 more games than Hunter over three seasons and has been almost twice as productive.
If the Barrett bar is too high for Hunter, what's the next comparable contract? Not Keldon Johnson. The undersized small forward signed a four-year, $74 million extension with the San Antonio Spurs last month.
Johnson has played 161 games over three seasons, not that far off from Hunter's 139 games. Yet again, Johnson's production swamps Hunter's output by almost every metric.
De'Andre Hunter averaged 13.4 points and 3.3 rebounds per game during the 2021-22 NBA season.
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Balancing Hunter's injury risk with future potential is no easy task. But given the frugal nature of Atlanta's front office, it would be surprising if they exceeded a four-year, $60 million offer to Hunter.
Back to Newton's third law, no contract extension could spur Hunter to his best season yet during a contract year. Or the lowball offer coupled with constant trade rumors could give him reason to test the waters of restricted free agency next summer. The 24-year-old seems prepared to follow the John Collins route and bet on himself next season rather than accept a discount deal.
Reconciling 50 Cent's doctrine of getting money with Sir Isaac Newton's Laws of Natural Motion is no easy task. But the Hawks and Hunter have 48 days to strike a deal. Otherwise, the two principles will be put to the test throughout the entire 2022-23 season.
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