Nets sign Motiejunas to $37M offer sheet
MILWAUKEE — The Nets signed restricted free agent Donatas Motiejunas to a front-loaded four-year, $37 million offer sheet Friday, The Post has confirmed. Now, they have to actually land the Houston big man.
Both Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni and general manager Daryl Morey have said they hope to keep the Lithuanian 7-footer. And with the annual salary quite manageable, and the final two years of the deal non-guaranteed, according to Yahoo Sports, the Nets could find their offer sheet being matched. Sound familiar?
“We’re big fans of Donatas. We hope to have him at some point this year,’’ Morey told the Houston Chronicle on Thursday. “It’s our understanding he will probably sign something in the next day. We won’t know until it’s official. We don’t know how much it will be.”
Now they do. With the Nets sending over the offer sheet Friday night, the Rockets have three days to match, meaning by midnight on Monday night. Houston matching would be particularly galling to the Nets — who don’t have to make any roster moves for the moment — considering their free agent failures of the summer.
Brooklyn GM Sean Marks signed restricted free agent guards Tyler Johnson (four years, $50 million) and Allen Crabbe (four years, $74 million) to offer sheets this summer, only to see the Heat and Trail Blazers both match. A day later, the Nets moved on to Plan B and signed Greivis Vasquez, who ended up playing just 39 minutes this season before being bought out for $3.9 million due to ongoing foot woes.
Motiejunas comes with health concerns of his own, and would be a gamble on the Nets’ part. But considering his age (26), their ample cap space and lack of draft picks, it would be a calculated one.
After Motiejunas posted career-highs of 12.0 points, 5.9 rebounds and 50.4 percent shooting two seasons ago, he needed back surgery to fix a ruptured disk in 2015, limiting him to just 37 games. He was set to be shipped to Detroit in a three-way deal at last season’s trade deadline, but the Pistons’ doctors failed him on his physical, because of concerns over his back.
Gianluca Pascucci — the Nets director of international scouting and an influential member of Brooklyn’s front office — was the Rockets’ vice president under Morey and is familiar with Motiejunas. The big man was in Brooklyn for a physical recently and the Nets’ doctors are confident in his health.
Motiejunas is a deft passer and solid shooter, able to be played alongside Brook Lopez. He models his game after Luis Scola, and is close with Jeremy Lin, with the two excelling on the court together in 2013-14. The Rockets were 7.2 points better per 100 possessions when the duo played together that season.
“I think we all hope it will work out,” D’Antoni said of keeping Motiejunas in Houston. “We still like him as a player and a person. … Those are Daryl’s decisions, what’s best for the organization. They’ll do what’s best for the organization. From a personal standpoint, yeah it would be great.”
The deal is slightly front-loaded. According to Yahoo, the first season is for $9.8 million, while the last two non-guaranteed years of the deal include trigger dates for the team to exercise options or let Motiejunas walk without the $9 millionplus balance for the season. It also reportedly includes $1 million in “likely” bonuses and another $500,000 in “unlikely” ones.
The Nets are $9.3 million under the salary floor, so that money is already spent.