And it has begun, all year we were asking whether Marc Gasol would leave or not. Will Marc Gasol keep the squad together and keep on pushing with their core four of Conley, Gasol, Allen and Z-Bo.
Well we won’t know the answer, because Mike Conley is threatening to do it before Gasol! ESPN is reporting that Conley is not going to sign an extension with the Grizz.
Sources say, furthermore, that they’ve tried to engage Conley in extension talks. More than once.
But the five-year, $40 million pact they signed Conley to in 2010 — openly second-guessed all over the NBA map at the time — proved to be too shrewd. So the consensus starting point guard on the league’s All-Underrated Team simply can’t sign an extension, working from the figures on his current deal, that could come close to the sort of offers he’s likely to attract as a 2016 free agent at the age of 28.
The Grizz, as a result, have no choice here. Conley is such a part of the furniture in the Grit/Grind World that you can safely presume his No. 11 will be raised to the rafters of the FedEx Forum someday. But it would be foolish for him to consent to an extension now, computing the increases from his current salary of $9-plus million, when he has the chance to test the market in a year at the same time that the NBA’s salary cap is poised to jump from the high $60 million range into $90 million territory.
Now remember that Conley won’t become a free agent until next year, so there is a chance that he’ll stay. But honestly, if Gasol is gone, Conley Will surely call it a stint and move somewhere else.
