While agent Mark Bartelstein isn’t commenting on the specifics, he acknowledged to Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times that he has been in contact with the Bucks to begin negotiating a possible contract extension for client Jabari Parker.
“We have had discussions; there has been dialogue,” Bartelstein said. “It’s been a positive dialogue. But that’s all I can say at this time.”
Parker continues to recover from a second ACL tear and likely won’t be back on the court for the Bucks until 2018, though the club is confident he’ll make a full recovery from his knee injury. Multiple sources who spoke to Woelfel believe that the young forward will be looking for a contract similar to the one he would’ve sought if not for the injury — a five-year, maximum salary extension. According to Woelfel, Parker and Bartelstein declined to comment themselves on specifics, but “those familiar with both individuals insist [they] won’t settle for anything less than a max contract.”
[RELATED: Extension Candidate: Jabari Parker]
If that’s the case, an extension before the October 16 deadline seems very unlikely for Parker. Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders recently reported that the Bucks are open to getting something done with the 22-year-old. However, Milwaukee is expected to seek team-friendly terms, given the current state of Parker’s knee.
Additionally, it’s worth noting that Giannis Antetokounmpo accepted less than the maximum salary a year ago, inking a four-year, $100MM extension that will go into effect this season. With Antetokounmpo on the books at that price, a max deal for Parker – which figures to be worth in the neighborhood of $150MM over five years – would be a tough sell. As Woefel observes, Bartelstein has a reputation for getting his clients top dollar, but I can’t see the Bucks going that high.
If the Bucks aren’t willing to meet Parker’s asking price this fall, he’d be eligible for restricted free agency in 2018, at which point he’d have three options: Working out a long-term deal with the Bucks, signing an offer sheet with another club (which the Bucks could match), or signing his one-year qualifying offer and reaching unrestricted free agency in 2019.
can’t do max with his knees
I agree. Have to prove you can at least make it through a season healthy before you get 5yr/150M.
I think the contract will be like 4/68
If he had been healthy, he would have been a great trade chip. Bucks looked better last year without him. Granted Middleton returned from injury and he fits the roster better than Parker does
Kid should be happy to get 50 million/5 with those injuries you definitely can’t be greedy.
No way the Bucks give him 5 years unless it includes a whole bunch of language and qualifiers on games played….which Jabari won’t accept.
Let him get healthy, hope that Thon and DJ Wilson develop and let Jabari hit RFA and see what happens. So few teams will have cap space Jabari’s camp is nuts not to work out a team-friendly, short term extension now.
What benefit do we have to giving him a new contract? Let them play out the contract and then will match anything if he plays well down the stretch the season
The benefit to locking up a top guy early would be getting him under contract for five years — if he goes to restricted free agency, maybe he signs a four-year offer sheet with a player option after three years, and you lose a couple seasons of control. That’s what happened with the Jazz and Gordon Hayward (if they’d done a five-year deal initially they’d still have him for two more years). But I think Parker has a long way to go if he’s going to fall into that category.
“Multiple sources who spoke with Gery Woelfel”. Take these “sources” with a huge grain of salt. Most of the time it’s just Woelflel making stuff up or he talks to the lead suite attendant at the Bradley Center.