NBA playoff teams hope winning will woo stars to stay
When the Memphis Grizzlies stunned the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, breaking their 21-game home winning streak and evening their Western Conference semifinal series at 1-1, it was a good reason for the the Grit & Grind nation to rejoice.
Not only because of what it meant in the here and now, but because of what it could mean when July 1 rolls around.
Center Marc Gasol will be a free agent then, and every Grizzlies game that ends with a smile on his face helps their ongoing campaign to keep him. They're not alone in that respect, as NBA executives and coaches have spent recent weeks hoping their teams' postseason play could help convince their stars to stick around.
Will the Portland Trail Blazers' first-round exit hurt their chances of keeping LaMarcus Aldridge, and might he join forces with Tim Duncan in San Antonio or perhaps head to his hometown of Dallas? What about DeAndre Jordan, the Los Angeles Clippers big man whose team is still alive but who some believe wants a chance to shine elsewhere?
Is there a chance that Paul Millsap might reconsider his Atlanta Hawks future if they bow out too soon? And then there's the curious case of Kevin Love, the Cleveland Cavaliers forward who is missing out on this postseason because of a shoulder injury and who can opt out of his current deal after this season if he so desires.
Their bosses may not admit it, but these are anxious times in that respect. It's the elephant-in-the-room subplot to the playoffs.
The league's collective bargaining agreement certainly helps the "home" team, as players can get five-year deals with 7.5% raises by re-signing but are limited to four-year deals with 4.5% raises with any other team. But there's no better way to up the odds of keeping your star then by winning it all, of course, but there is value in looking the part of title contender too. The championship vision, if only for a few fleeting moments, seems more real that way. The future, in turn, seems bright.
To that end, the Gasol-Mike Conley-Zach Randolph core that has been together since 2009 looks as formidable as ever heading into Game 3 in Memphis on Saturday. Yet truth be told, the Grizzlies and the city of Memphis have never seemed overly worried that Gasol might skip town.
There is a bond between Gasol and the city: He first moved there with his family from Spain while his brother, Pau, was starring for the Grizzlies, attending high school locally and eventually joining the NBA team by way of a trade with the Lakers in 2008 that sent Pau to Los Angeles. As is the case with so many of the other prospective free agents, Gasol's occasional public statements have left plenty of room for interpretation.
"The city of Memphis and the franchise means a lot to me," he told Paste BN Sports in mid-February. "It's not going to be easy for me to leave a place like that."
Aldridge made strong statements last summer about wanting to be a Blazer for life, but began to take a more measured stance in recent months while speculation grew that he planned on considering other options. Jordan, who the Clippers are expected to make a strong push to keep, made it clear that he's open to exploring other opportunities.
"The team is great, the guys are good, we have great camaraderie," he told Paste BN Sports of the Clippers in mid-March. "But the free agency process is definitely going to be a fun one. I want to experience it, to see what it's like."
The Spurs' Kawhi Leonard was the rare exception to this rule, as he told Paste BN Sports in early November that he was "pretty sure I'll be in a Spurs jersey for my whole life." Sure enough, Leonard — who will be a restricted free agent, meaning San Antonio can match any offers — is expected to sign a long-term deal in San Antonio rather quickly once free agency hits (likely a five-year, $95 million variety). If Duncan gives it another go like so many suspect he will, the Spurs may be the scariest suitors on the market.
Love's situation is easily the most unique. After a regular season in which he mostly struggled to fit in with LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and the rest of the Cavaliers, he had some of his best moments in the first round against Boston. But his Game 4 injury, when the Celtics' Kelly Olynyk dislocated his shoulder while fighting for a rebound, brought it all to a premature end.
Now, the Cavs are forced to cross their collective fingers and hope that Love doesn't opt out of his current deal and decide to head to Laker Land in Los Angeles. Love, who has a player option for $16.7 million for next season, starred at UCLA and could potentially be joined there by his former Bruins teammate, the Oklahoma City Thunder's Russell Westbrook, in the summer of 2017 if he so desired.
Coincidentally, his father Stan played for the Lakers in the mid-1970s. Not surprisingly, everyone from LeBron James to coach David Blatt and the rest of them have been showering Love with public praise ever since he went down.
They're hardly the only ones making preemptive free agency pitches here, though. It's the way of the NBA world right now, one that gets easier with every win.
Follow Sam Amick on Twitter @sam_amick.
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