With the deadline to reach an agreement on a rookie-scale contract extension nearing, the Jazz and Rudy Gobert continue to engage in talks and the two sides are working on a potential deal, Marc Stein of ESPN.com relays (via Twitter). The two sides are closing in on a four-year, $100MM+ arrangement, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports (via Twitter).
While Gobert would almost assuredly prefer to reach an agreement on an extension, he would willing to test the waters as a restricted free agent next offseason if no deal is struck, Stein tweets. The center is on the books for a fully guaranteed salary of $2,121,287 for 2016/17 and would require a qualifying offer of $3,145,869 from Utah if no new deal was finalized by tonight’s deadline for the team to have the right o match any offer he were to receive on the open market.
The 24-year-old appeared in 61 games a season ago for the Jazz, averaging 9.1 points, 11.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 2.5 blocks in 31.7 minutes per outing. His slash line was .559/.000/.569. In three contests this season, Gobert has notched 11.0 PPG, 12.0 RPG and 2.7 BPG.