Hollinger: Lonzo Ball likely to receive contract in range of $100 million
Lonzo Ball’s free agency is set to be an interesting showdown between a Pelicans side that seems intent on not matching any significant offer sheet and a market where only a handful of teams have notable cap space. Fortunately for Ball, most of those teams – Chicago, New York and Dallas, specifically – have a need at point guard and will likely be in the market for his services.
Ball’s market is likely going to have a floor of around $18 million annually and a range that could go to as much as $25 million, at least according to The Athletic’s John Hollinger. In a piece ranking his top 20 free agents this summer, Ball came in at fourth with this tidbit:
“As a result, teams are likely to pump the brakes well short of a max contract on Ball. Something in the range of four years and $100 million seems a more likely ceiling given the offensive concerns; that’s already spendy for somebody who can be the third-best player on a good team but probably no more than that.”
Based on the projection used in the article, BORD$, is a formula concocted by Hollinger that takes into account all sorts of rating metrics across the web. Ball’s projected annual salary was $22,483,316. Considering he’s a restricted free agent which generally means a team must overpay to force the incumbent team not to match the offer sheet, the $25 million annually starts to make sense.
However, as previously noted, the Pelicans don’t seem interested in matching an offer sheet from Ball, and certainly not one closing in on $25 million annually. That will put teams in an interesting situation in which they could look to get better value while still offering a contract New Orleans won’t match.
