Pending Nets offer to force GM’s hand
Morey must decide whether to match to keep Motiejunas
OAKLAND, Calif. — Donatas Motiejunas is expected to finally sign an offer sheet to leave as a free agent. But after months caught in a negotiation stalemate, the Rockets are not ready to give up hope that they might keep the restricted free agent forward/center.
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey has been told to expect to receive an offer sheet, possibly as soon as Friday. Motiejunas met with the Brooklyn Nets this week and was examined by their team physicians as the Nets prepare an offer sheet.
Morey, however, said that the expiration of his offer to Motiejunas would not preclude matching an offer sheet to keep Motiejunas. He has not been given an indication about what the Nets’ offer will be.
“We’re big fans of Donatas,” Morey said. “We hope to have him at some point this year. 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.”
The Rockets have three days to match an offer sheet or let him join the Nets more than 20 games into the season. The Rockets had put a Nov. 23 deadline on their final offer, believing his value would decrease after the date in which players signing as free agents could be traded this season.
If the Rockets match an offer sheet to bring back Motiejunas, the Rockets could not make an
deal involving him this season, could not trade him to any team without his consent for a year after he signs and cannot trade him to the Nets at all for one year. The Rockets believed the loss of trade options with Motiejunas after Nov. 23 would make him potentially less valuable, a consideration Morey indicated would be weighed once he receives an offer sheet.
Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni has not changed his oft-stated opinion that Motiejunas could be a valuable addition to the roster.
“I think we all hope it will work out,” D’Antoni said. “We still like him as a player and a person. Now, we just have to see the terms. 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.”
Back issues a concern
If he signs with the Nets, Motiejunas would join Luis Scola, the former Rocket Motiejunas modeled much of his game after.
The Rockets’ offer had fully guaranteed only the first year of Motiejunas’ contract, worth in excess of $7 million. The Rockets were unwilling to fully guarantee the second season because of Motiejunas’ history of back issues.
Motiejunas’ strengths would fit well with D’Antoni’s offense.
Though the play of backup centers Nene and Montrezl Harrell and backup forward Sam Dekker has been solid this season, any injury to rotation players in the frontcourt would leave a void that would be difficult to fill.
Motiejunas played 37 games last season after coming back from surgery to repair a ruptured disk that ended his 2014-15 season in March.
The Rockets traded him to the Detroit Pistons in February for a first-round pick, but Pistons doctors would not sign off on his condition and the Pistons voided the trade for medical reasons. Motiejunas played the rest of the season with no issues.
The rebuilding Nets, with few draft picks, have sought to bolster their roster with several moves to add restricted free agents. They signed Portland’s Allen Crabbe to a fouryear, $75 million deal and Miami guard Tyler Johnson to a four-year, $50 million offer sheet only to have both teams match the offer sheets and keep their players.
Decision coming
The Rockets could be the third team to match a Nets offer sheet since the start of free agency last July, but the Nets have the cap space to offer Motiejunas more than double the Rockets’ final offer. They are $18.4 million under the salary cap, making them $9 million shy of the salary-cap floor teams must pay their players.
Though the Rockets did not technically pull the offer, describing it as coming with a deadline now past, they had seemed to move on.
They expect to have to make a final decision they had not reached when they knew an offer sheet would soon be headed their way.