Nikola Pekovic still hasn’t signed anything, which is only weird because Brandon Jennings has.
Of all the free agents, especially restricted free agents, most wouldn’t have thought Pek would be the last big name to sign. He should have been one of the first. After averaging 16.3 points and 8.8 rebounds last season, a deal between him and the Minnesota Timberwolves should have been sewn up long ago.
Only it wasn’t. And it still isn’t. Which could be cause for concern.
Flip Saunders isn’t worried about the length of this process, though.
Yeah, I’m still optimistic,” he told Sid Hartman of the Star Tribune when asked about Pek re-signing.
Hartman writes that Saunders plans to fly to New York in the imminent future to talk with the big man’s agent, the hope probably being that the two sides can iron this deal out once and for all.
More than a month into the NBA free-agency period, however, it’s near impossible to ignore how long this is taking. The Timberwolves tendered a four-year offer worth roughly $50 million ages ago, and Pek has yet to sign. Per Darren Wolfson of ESPN, Pek’s camp is believed to be seeking something in the five-year $60-million range.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RG2OU-fLuM
The new CBA being structured as it is, five-year deals are difficult to come by. And since the Timberwolves didn’t offer Kevin Love that highly sought-after five-year extension, I can’t imagine them doing so for Pek.
That said, David Kahn isn’t running the show anymore, so perhaps anything is possible. Although it does seem like Saunders is holding firm with his current overture:
“Right now we’re going through maybe an education process [with] Pek and his people of where we’re at with our organization and his importance to us and where we feel we’re at with what our offer is and why we’ve offered him what we’ve offered,” Saunders said. “There’s nothing that has been adversarial, it’s more of an education situation right now, and I’m optimistic that we’ll sign him. Right now we’re in a situation where he’s a restricted free agent and so he can go out and get an offer sheet from anybody and get a contract, but we have the ability to match any offer that he can get.
Four years and $50 million seems fair for Pek. Not in that he doesn’t deserve more, but it’s not like Minny is underselling him either. At this stage of the offseason, if he was going to get more from another team, chances are he would have gotten it by now. Negotiating a deal with someone else before bringing it back to Saunders and the Timberwolves is still a possibility, but it seems unlikely someone swoops in with a more lavish four-year offer.
Locking up Pek is still a top priority for a team that isn’t exactly brimming with size. He’s also an important part of what they hope can be a championship whole, next to Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio, Kevin Martin, et al. Letting him go, especially now that there isn’t someone available who could replace him, doesn’t seem like an option. Because it’s not.
Minnesota needs to retain Pek and even though this has become a rather drawn-out process, there’s no reason to believe an agreement won’t be struck. Saunders is optimistic they’ll get a deal done and Pekovic doesn’t appear to have any other cards to play, the latter all but eliminating any leverage he may have had.
So he’s not going anywhere, just like he’s not getting five years and $60 million.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com. Follow @danfavale on Twitter for his latest posts and all things NBA.
