Paul Millsap and J.J. Redick are two of the most talented unrestricted free agents left on the board, but there’s a sense that the two veterans – who are 36 and 37 years old, respectively – may not be in a hurry to pick a team for the 2021/22 season, writes Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report. Redick has stated publicly that he’ll wait until sometime in the fall – or even later – to sign a new contract, and Fischer says people around the league believe Millsap will take his time too.
“I think (Millsap)’s gonna be a minimum or a midseason guy,” one source told Fischer. “What’s the rush? The money wouldn’t get much better, and he can just pick his team. What if New Orleans is really good come January? What happens when some guy gets hurt, and that team starts scrambling for a replacement? He can pick his spot.”
As Fischer observes, Millsap didn’t have much of an offseason in 2020, having reported to training camp about two months after Denver was eliminated from the playoffs in the Western Conference Finals. Facing another abridged offseason in 2021, Millsap may benefit in the long run from taking a longer break.
Here’s more from Fischer on Millsap and Redick:
- The Warriors have been the team most frequently linked to Millsap, but he has also drawn interest from the Hawks, Nets, Pelicans, Sixers, and Timberwolves, according to Fischer, who adds that there are no indications the big man has gotten close to finalizing a deal with any of those teams.
- Sources tell Fischer that in discussions with potential suitors, Millsap has been seeking a salary worth some or all of the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5.9MM).
- Redick figures to draw interest from teams around the NBA, with one Western Conference head coach telling Fischer that he’d like to have the sharpshooter on his roster. However, there’s a league-wide belief that Redick is eyeing the Knicks or Nets so that he can remain close to home. Some execs have speculated that Redick could even retire if he doesn’t land with either of those teams, Fischer writes.
- Any team with interest in adding Redick would likely want more information on the heel injury that limited him in 2020/21, says Fischer. Sources tell Bleacher Report that teams flagged that issue back at the March trade deadline when New Orleans was shopping Redick.
Dream scenario for the Heat if Millsap waits, and they can get rid of Markieff Morris, but Portland and Dallas should be especially trying to land him, as well as Sacramento and Minnesota. I feel like those first 2 teams would make sense for him to join without having to wait and see, not just b/c of fit, but what their rosters would look like with him, and the possibility of being a contender
Really wish the Heat gave Millsap their mid-level, instead of PJ Tucker, and then grabbed a lower cost defensive 4, in his place
I like PJ Tucker for the heat, I think that’s a smart add but I understand your logic, I really think Portland should sign millsap and trade for markannen and actually do some roster construction, I am a huge fan of Dame and think it would be great if he stays in Portland for his whole career and these younger vet superstars change the super team nba back to something that resembles the 90s when superstars stayed and never gave up on winning where they were drafted, tougher minds in the 90s though
Nothing against Pj tucker. I would obviously take Millsap and Tucker, but I would assume he wouldnt have taken minimum, or bi-annual exception, and prefer Millsap to him by a significant amount.
Oh man I’d like Markieff in Golden State tbh. I’m thinking they’re planning on wiring to spend their MLE until the buyout guys hit the market, or chase Millsap if Porter/Bjelicia or Dray/JTA/Loon/Wiseman get hurt, so they won’t be hurting as much.
But imagine Kevin Love gets bought out, and the Dubs can offer $5m, but Brooklyn can offer $800k… I think he could be a nice role guy in GS, and get more minutes there than Brooklyn, but we’ll see. Of course at this point the easier ride to the Finals appears to be with Brooklyn/Lakers/Milwaukee, but maybe Love is interested in Silicon Valley and setting up a tech based portfolio for his post career investments? That’s something Iggy/Lacob can help with for sure.
That’s a factor for any buyout guy, especially if the Dubs get hot early on(stranger things have happened, and it’s not like they were awful last year, their Steph/Baze/Wigs/Dray/Loon lineup was top 10 in the NBA. Porter is a better fit than Oubre, Bjelicia>Paschall, Iggy>Wanamaker, healthy Damion Lee>Mulder, Kuminga>Jordan Bell, Moody>Mannion, and Wiggins gets his first non-COVID-19 off-season/training camp with the system. Wigs was a 21ppg guy and shot 41%+ from 3 with Baze and Loon in the lineup over Oubre and Wiseman.
Imagine Lee(38% 3pt shooter)>Bazemore, and(eventually) Klay Thompson over Bazemore?
They went from an 8 man rotation of Steph/Baze/Wigs/Dray/Loon
with a Poole/JTA/Mulder bench
to something like starting
Steph/Wigs/Porter/Dray/Loon
Iggy/Poole/JTA/Bjelicia/Wiseman 2nd unit and 11-14th men of
Lee/Payton II/Moody/Kuminga
Instead of Mannion, Bell, and Smailagic.
They’re much deeper. They lost those playin games by a combined 8 or 9 points, not bc the starting lineup wasn’t playing well, but bc they didn’t have an nba level 2nd unit. Even with Beal, the starters can’t play 48, and they’d be stuck in a bad spot if they had to trade depth for a “star”. Wiggins can play 40 when you need him to, and with 33yo Steph/32yo Klay/Dray, you may need a 6’7 athletic wing to run around a bit.
I’d like Avery Bradley or Millsap, really.
Steph and Bradley could be nice until Klay comes back, to which Poole and Bradley could be a solid backup backcourt too.
This dude and his comments that are longer than the actual article.
If Millsap is targeting the T-MLE, the Nets are out since they used there’s on Patty Mills. If Redick is healthy, I know his top choice is Brooklyn since he lives there, but I’m not sure they would cut Alize Johnson for him, unless Alize qualified for the two-way.
Redick would seem destined to go to the Nets, based on skill set, age and home address, and his timeline and theirs for signing this year are likely compatible. All other things being equal, I think the Nets would prefer a midseason signing.
Millsap, at minimum, can help any contender. Have to wonder if he’s preserving himself.
With Millsap it’s the MLE money. If he’s only offered a minimum he may as well wait. But I guess I’m just repeating what the article above says LOL.
They say the Warriors are FrontRunner but there’s no way they give him the mle. Besides that they need a ball-handling guard first and I think they’re waiting to see how the trade scenarios potential shake out.
Yeah, the MLE isn’t efficient to use here on a guy who’ll be paid 40% by the league if he signs a 1 year veteran minimum deal.
Redick should retire especially after Pelican exit fiasco. No team should sign him.
It’s very mysterious why W’s are most frequently linked to Milsap when W’s have major luxury tax issues. It tells me that something we dont know is brewing, which could include unexpected trades.
They’re not “issues” on the Warriors. Haven’t you seen the news? They signed Curry to an extension at about 50 million dollars per year. That shows they don’t care about luxury tax in of itself. And if they sign a guy at the mle it has to be the right guy because 5 million becomes 25 million. But again, they would do it for the right guy.
Someone like Milsap is a minimum salary candidate on the Warriors. Aside from that I think they prefer a ball-handler first. And yes I agree they’re holding out to see how the trade market shakes out.
Milsap could be signed in case Wiseman, Looney, or even Green is traded. You just never know why the front office is thinking.
True !!
Highly unlikely warriors trade green
I dont disagree but what if Sixers want Green included in the package for Simmons? You just never know.
There’s no way they trade Draymond Green. He’s part of what they do and he’s crucial to their success. The other guys sure they may be traded but Draymond no way.
Absolutely, but didnt they trade the “soul” of the team, Iggy couple years back?? You just never know especially since Simmons has been linked to W’s all off season. After all, Green and Simmons are very similar players and we all wonder why would W’s be interested in Simmons when we already have Green. Finally, I am beginning to think Green did the KD interview to show that he is not happy to be underappreciated by W’s(included in the trade talk).
Why would they trade Wiseman, Looney, or Green? None of that makes any sense…People usually do think.
$54M/year for a guy who turns 38 in the final year of his contract seems very reasonable. But didn’t their GM just say that they won’t be keeping either Payton or Mulder because they don’t want to continue adding to the $184M tax bill? So why would they consider using the MLE on Millsap, or even sign him for just the minimum?
Why would they pay Millsap $54 million?
You’re not quoting Bob Myers correctly on that. I was waiting for you to do so by the way. I could see it coming any day.
Three team deal
Warriors: Ben Simmons,Nurkic
Sixers : Lillard
Blazers: Wiggins,Wiseman,picks
yeah money probably doesnt match like this but add other pieces and i say its a fair trade.
Blazers rebuild
Philly gets their PG
Warriors have a big three
Simmons runs PG and Curry becomes a spot up shooter with Klay
Simmons/Curry/Klay/Draymond/Nurkic
Three Elite defenders who can switch easy and hide Curry’s weaknesses on the defensive end
The only thing holding this up is Damian Lillard’s contentment in Portland. For now he’s good. But there’s six months between today and the trading deadline for that to change. I’m sure that’s what the Sixers are waiting on.
Sure it’s possible that the Simmons situation in Philadelphia is so toxic that they can’t wait until the trading deadline so he might be moved in training camp.
Side note, I can’t stand J Nurkic’ game. He thinks he’s all that, but come crunch time he crumbles. Plus he can’t stay on the court he gets injured too much for all that money. He would not be part of that deal I tell you that.
I must assume the Blazers are getting a ton of first round picks in this trade.
Absolutely, pics pics and more pics.
Timberwolves should be throwing 6 million at him as fast as they can….my god he’d be a upgrade there…….but why would he want to play for them…….
What about the Suns? Seems he could fit there as backup 4?
Blazers possibly if they’re done with Carmelo experiment could fit Millsap.
I think Millsap would do well to go back to Utah.
Redick. He could fit any team. People always want shooters. No reason for him to rush to sign anywhere.
Yes especially since Dario saric is on the Shelf quite a while.
Timberpuppies are pursuing RONNIE MILLSAP !!
Reddick interviewed Sexton on his podcast and spoke glowingly of him. I think Reddick would be a nice edition to the Cavs as both a shooter as well as a veteran presence.
“Millsap may benefit in the long run from taking a longer break”…
Seriously???
I mean how long is gonna be his run, dude is 36 & he wasn’t that good to start off. He ain’t the King that has tank for a veeery looong time yet!