Remember when we had to worry about things like "how much is Al Jefferson worth?" and how will we find the room to re-sign all the young players? Not our problem anymore. See this note from ESPN the Mag:
Trading Kevin Garnett and his monster contract should have at least earned some financial freedom for the Wolves. But no. Al Jefferson and Ryan Gomes, the two key pieces in the swap, will be restricted free agents next summer and VP Kevin McHale had better keep them if he hopes to salvage any face. That gives both players huge leverage. "It's a killer," says a rival GM.
Some random notes from this:
- I bet Gerald doesn't like hearing that he wasn't a key part of the deal.
- This is kind of a silly arguement to begin with. You look for cap space so you'll have room to sign guys that will help you. Jefferson fits that bill.
- Ryan does too, but I imagine he'll test the free agent waters. I doubt he'd take a discount to come back to Boston. He knows he's got a great chance to get rich(er) and he'd be dumb not to take it. And he's not dumb.
- By the way, this all reminds me of the time years ago I was playing fantasy baseball and a friend of mine (no, his name isn't House) convinced me to trade him Greg Maddux for 3 prospects. He knew baseball better than I did and he did a great sell job on the prospects. I figured I'd roll the dice. But after I agreed, he just looked at me and said, "I can't believe you just traded me Greg Maddux." That sinking feeling I had must be what McHale is feeling right about now.