Baron Davis

Dear Mr. Baron Davis and team,

We thank you giving us your time to talk about your future beyond this season in Orlando. We are aware that you have a player option for $14,467,200 and may will choose what is best for you and your family.

With that said, we’ve ran a lot of different numbers and ways that things can play out over the years, taking into consideration both the organization’s needs and your needs as you try to maximize your earning potential in the free market.

Now sure, you could decline your option for next season and test the free agent market and be quite a hot commodity. And surely, we’d continue to try to retain your services as the star point guard of this organization. According to our numbers, the maximum we’d be able to offer you is in the neighborhood of $96.8M over 5 years taking you through your age 32 season. Not too shabby if you ask me.

However, we found a different path that may benefit both sides of this arrangement. We believe that if you commit and opt into your player option for next season now, we could offer you a 2 year extension with the last year being a player option. This extension would start in 2009 with at 120% rate of your player option for 2008 ($17,360,640) with an 8% increase for 2009 which would also be a player option.

After playing through the 2009 season, you’ll have the right to decline your player option with 10 years of service time which allows for you to hit the FA market and maximize your value as teams can offer up to 35% of the salary cap to you ($20,195,000 starting value). Or you could come back to the negotiating table with us before the 2009 season and give us the opportunity to talk an extension that could start as high as $20.8 million, more than allowed on the open market.

When looking at the big picture here, you have a chance to make $99.3 million dollars by the end of your age 32 season and still potentially have a nearly $26 million player option on the table for age 33 season. Or if you felt the need to go to market next offseason, the CBA would cap us at offering about $96.8M over 5 years through your age 32 season.

We’re in a position where we’re happy to pay a little more in the long run if it can help us now while we think we have a window to really make some things happen with the MVP Tim Duncan joining the Magic and the acquisition of Lamar Odom. We hope you believe in us as much as we believe in you.

Offer:
Commit to player option for 2008 ($14,467,200)
Sign 2 Year Extension
Year 1: $17,360,640 (120% of 2008 salary)
Year 2: $18,749,491 (8% Increase) (Player option)

Thank you for your time,
Swope
Orlando Magic GM

Jun 19, 2023 0:15:47 GMT -5 swope said:

Dear Mr. Baron Davis and team,

We thank you giving us your time to talk about your future beyond this season in Orlando. We are aware that you have a player option for $14,467,200 and may will choose what is best for you and your family.

With that said, we’ve ran a lot of different numbers and ways that things can play out over the years, taking into consideration both the organization’s needs and your needs as you try to maximize your earning potential in the free market.

Now sure, you could decline your option for next season and test the free agent market and be quite a hot commodity. And surely, we’d continue to try to retain your services as the star point guard of this organization. According to our numbers, the maximum we’d be able to offer you is in the neighborhood of $96.8M over 5 years taking you through your age 32 season. Not too shabby if you ask me.

However, we found a different path that may benefit both sides of this arrangement. We believe that if you commit and opt into your player option for next season now, we could offer you a 2 year extension with the last year being a player option. This extension would start in 2009 with at 120% rate of your player option for 2008 ($17,360,640) with an 8% increase for 2009 which would also be a player option.

After playing through the 2009 season, you’ll have the right to decline your player option with 10 years of service time which allows for you to hit the FA market and maximize your value as teams can offer up to 35% of the salary cap to you ($20,195,000 starting value). Or you could come back to the negotiating table with us before the 2009 season and give us the opportunity to talk an extension that could start as high as $20.8 million, more than allowed on the open market.

When looking at the big picture here, you have a chance to make $99.3 million dollars by the end of your age 32 season and still potentially have a nearly $26 million player option on the table for age 33 season. Or if you felt the need to go to market next offseason, the CBA would cap us at offering about $96.8M over 5 years through your age 32 season.

We’re in a position where we’re happy to pay a little more in the long run if it can help us now while we think we have a window to really make some things happen with the MVP Tim Duncan joining the Magic and the acquisition of Lamar Odom. We hope you believe in us as much as we believe in you.

Offer:
Commit to player option for 2008 ($14,467,200)
Sign 2 Year Extension
Year 1: $17,360,640 (120% of 2008 salary)
Year 2: $18,749,491 (8% Increase) (Player option)

Thank you for your time,
Swope
Orlando Magic GM

Thank you for your extension offer. However, as it stands now, Baron is leaning towards opting out of his player option for 2007 and earning a bigger paycheck for the season. Based on the extension rules, the Magic could offer him a 120% raise for next season off of what he's currently making now. Here is what that would look like:

2007: $16,308,480
2008: $17,613,158
2009: $18,917,836
2010: $20,222,514 (player option)
TOTAL: $73,061,988

It is worth noting that the starting value here is $380,520 less than what his starting value would be on the open market, if he were to hit unrestricted free agency. At the moment, we are non-committal to this deal, but would be interested to know if it is on the table before proceeding. From 2007-2009, this is an increase of a total of $2,262,143 from what you were originally proposing, plus an extra year included as a player option.

While we are slightly disappointed that we couldn’t make our original offer work to provide more space to maneuver under the luxury tax, we know this is a business and we see Baron’s side of the situation.

With that said, if there is nothing else we can do to convince a Baron to play next season on his player option, we would be open to meeting the terms listed above. We hope Baron is ready to commit to our organization for the foreseeable future. We want Baron’s number to hang in the rafters long after his playing career is complete.

Thank you for your time

Jun 19, 2023 19:33:38 GMT -5 swope said:

While we are slightly disappointed that we couldn’t make our original offer work to provide more space to maneuver under the luxury tax, we know this is a business and we see Baron’s side of the situation.

With that said, if there is nothing else we can do to convince a Baron to play next season on his player option, we would be open to meeting the terms listed above. We hope Baron is ready to commit to our organization for the foreseeable future. We want Baron’s number to hang in the rafters long after his playing career is complete.

Thank you for your time

We're glad you see our side of things. The compromise is signing for this instead of going to the off-season hoping for the max contract and fighting for every dollar he could get. We're happy to lock up for this number and look forward to a bright future in Orlando.

Verdict: OFFER ACCEPTED

Full Terms: 4 years, $73,061,988 ($16,308,480 starting value) with a player option in the fourth year.