Jason Maxiell remains uncertain if he will exercise his player option with the Pistons for next season, reports Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News. The 29-year-old forward has until June 28 to decide whether he will return to Detroit for $5MM or test the free-agent market this summer. Maxiell's agent, Andy Miller, is currently using the month of June to determine how his client would fare if he declined his option and made his services available to the rest of the league. The Pistons are expected to select a big man in the first round of the draft, which has made Maxiell's decision more difficult.
"If a team was telling me they were interested in Max but decide to go big in the draft, it would affect some things," Miller said. "If I had a sense as far as who was drafting whom and had the foresight, it doesn't matter who the player is conceptually."
The former Cincinnati star signed his current four-year, $20MM extension after breaking out during the 2007/2008 season in which he finished ninth in the Sixth Man of the Year vote. Maxiell's play has been inconsistent since then due to inconsistent playing time stemming from his fluctuating weight as he finished this past season averaging 6.5 PPG and 5.1 RPG. As such, Maxiell is unlikely to receive $5MM on the open market given the current economic climate across the league, but Miller still wants Maxiell to be aware of all of his options.
"Because this is his first time experiencing this, our thrust is to make sure we bring him up to speed and prepare him for the process," Miller said. "I don't know if there's ever a comfortability when a player is headed into the unknown, be it the (best) player or (worst) player, because changes are abound."
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