Tuesday, July 6, 2004
By Chad Ford
ESPN Insider
After two years of relative fiscal restraint in free agency, it seems GMs have been given blank checks by their owners this summer.
Two of the top available big men -- Mehmet Okur and Adonal Foyle -- agreed to lucrative deals late Monday night, according to sources. Both players are expected to sign multi-year contracts for in excess of $40 million each, reinforcing what has become a growing theme this summer: GMs gone wild.
Steve Nash
Point Guard
Dallas Mavericks
Profile
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM
PPG
RPG
APG
FG%
FT%
78
14.5
3.0
8.8
.470
.916
Of the five players who appear to have deals in place in advance of the July 14 signing period, all five have agreed to contracts that exceed even the most liberal predictions of a month ago. Steve Nash's five-year, $65 million contract was so steep even Mark Cuban wouldn't match it. When Cuban won't match, you pretty much know you've broken the bank.
Cuban responded by offering Marquis Daniels a six-year, $38 million dollar deal. Daniels, who went undrafted last year, played for the league minimum last season. Marcus Camby, who has a long history of injuries, agreed to a long-term deal believed to be worth $50 million to $60 million. Okur and Foyle, both role players on their teams last year, will get multi-year deals with starting salaries in excess of $6.5 million next season.
Of the five, only Nash averaged more than 10 ppg.
The free spending might not be finished. There's talk the Nuggets are readying an offer for Manu Ginobili with a starting salary in excess of $8 million. Ginobili, too, was a sixth man on his team last season. Erick Dampier is looking at lucrative sign-and-trade options, despite a very checkered history. Mark Blount, who didn't have a pulse until mid-season, is looking for a deal in excess of the mid-level exception, and it appears he might get it.
What in the name of Donald Trump is going on? Has the rest of the NBA caught Mark Cuban fever? What happened to the luxury tax fears that were throttling the market.
"This is absolute craziness," one NBA GM told Insider. "Teams are so desperate for help, so desperate for big men and point guards, that they're almost bidding against themselves."
Okur's big deal
The Pistons' Okur, who had a six-year, $40 million deal on the table from Detroit, agreed to a five-year, $50 million offer sheet with the Jazz on Monday evening, according to sources.
Mehmet Okur
Forward-Center
Detroit Pistons
Profile
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM
PPG
RPG
APG
FG%
FT%
71
9.6
5.9
1.0
.463
.775
Okur is a restricted free agent, meaning Detroit has 15 days to match the offer once it's officially signed after July 14. However, because the Pistons own only his early Bird rights and are over the cap, they cannot exceed the mid-level exception to re-sign him.
The Pistons could get far enough under the cap to match the offer if they renounced their rights to Rasheed Wallace, but team president Joe Dumars has said repeatedly he won't do that. That essentially means the only way Okur will be in a Pistons uniform next year is if Wallace decides over the next few weeks that he doesn't want to re-sign in Detroit.
That isn't likely. Sources insist he is leaning heavily toward re-upping in Detroit. Because the Pistons own Wallace's full Bird Rights, they can exceed the salary cap to re-sign him. The Pistons reportedly are on the verge of offering him a five-year, $50 million deal to stay in Detroit.
Rasheed Wallace
Forward-Center
Detroit Pistons
Profile
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM
PPG
RPG
APG
FG%
FT%
68
16.0
6.8
2.3
.436
.736
Monday, Dumars was in Philadelphia, Wallace's hometown, to speak at a basketball clinic put on by 'Sheed.
The loss of Okur isn't considered a devastating one for Detroit. Head coach Larry Brown wasn't a big Okur fan and limited his playing time once Wallace came on board. Getting Okur off the roster also frees up time for last year's No. 2 pick, Darko Milicic, to get much needed playing time.
The offer sheet from the Jazz isn't a big surprise. The team is in desperate need of size and has had luck with other international players in the past. The Suns also were heavily involved in the bidding for Okur but backed off Monday when they saw what Utah was willing to offer. In fact Phoenix might have had no choice after signing Nash. Depending on the final salary cap figure for 2004-05 when it is set in a week, the Suns are expected to have only between $6 million and $7.3 million to spend.
The Jazz, meanwhile, still will have enough cash under the cap to offer a max contract to another player, if they choose. The team also reached a deal with, Gordan Giricek, one of its own restricted free agents, Monday. However, his deal is believed to be much smaller and will not seriously impact the team's cap situation.
Foyle to re-up with the Warriors
Adonal Foyle
Center
Golden State Warriors
Profile
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM
PPG
RPG
APG
FG%
FT%
44
3.1
3.8
0.4
.454
.543
Center Adonal Foyle has agreed to re-sign with the Warriors, according to his agent, Lon Babby. Golden State has offered the center a five-year deal worth $41.6 million that Babby said starts at $6.5 million next season and has a team option in year six for a little more than $10 million.
The news will come as a blow to many teams hoping to land the oft-injured big man. Foyle was thought to be one of the few available big men willing to sign for the mid-level exception. However, Golden State has made him a far more lucrative offer to stay in the Bay.
The team's willingness to sign Foyle to such a big contract likely spells the end of Erick Dampier's tenure with Golden State. Dampier is an unrestricted free agent and has been flirting with several teams, most prominently the Memphis Grizzlies.
Inside Nash's dash for cash
The big offers to Okur and Foyle have shock value, but nothing tops what the Suns did with Nash. No one in Dallas, especially Mark Cuban, can get over the Suns' huge offer. Cuban, on his personal weblog, wrote a detailed account of the negotiations with Nash and why he ultimately declined to match Phoenix's offer:
Phoenix's offer to Steve Nash took Mark Cuban by surprise, and he wasn't happy.
"The morning of July 1, as I got ready to go to Steve's, I had determined that I would offer Steve 9 million a year for 4 years, with a 5th year with half guaranteed, but he could get the 5th year fully guaranteed by playing enough games and minutes the year before. I was guessing we would end up doing 60 games and 20 minutes per game to get there. I thought it was very fair."
However Phoenix came back with an offer of five years fully guaranteed at an average of $11 million per, with a sixth year partially guaranteed. Phoenix's offer starts Nash at just under $10 million per year, with 10 percent annual raises.
Apparently, that was too much for Cuban.
"About dinner time that night I got a call. Donnie said I had to call Steve. I did. To make a long story short, Steve said he got an incredible offer from the Suns. He wouldn't tell me the exact numbers, but every time I said a number, he said it was more. He said they flew down a whole group of people, including Amare Stoudemire to recruit him. He was calling because he felt like he owed me the opportunity to match it. I was stunned. I told him to give me a little bit of time to think it over and I would call him back. He was fine with that.
"I called Donnie and told him the range of numbers that I had given Steve, and that the offer was higher. I think Donnie was as stunned as I was. Based on the ranges I had thrown out to Steve, this might not have been a max out deal, but it sure sounded like it was close. There was no way I was going to match it. The amounts were higher and the length was longer than I was willing to go for all the reasons I wrote about."
Cuban cites several factors for his decision not to retain Nash, among them age and durability. The feeling was that Nash, 31, would be making so much at the end of his career that his contract would be untradeable. Cuban also noted that Nash had played in a lot of pain the past few years and he was unsure how long he'd hold up. Finally, Cuban devoted a significant amount of space in his blog railing on Bill Duffy, Nash's agent. According to Cuban, they don't have a good relationship, and it sounds as if Cuban believes Duffy was steering Nash away from Dallas.
Duffy laughed at the assertion.
"I work for Nash, not the Mavericks," Duffy told Insider. "My job was pretty basic -- to put Steve in the best possible position, financially. I think had the Mavericks matched Phoenix's offer, Steve would've stayed in Dallas. However, the Suns' offer was significantly higher, and Steve has a history there, too. His mother lives there; he has a high respect for the organization; and he believes that the team they're building will be a real contender. I respect Mark for making a business decision that he felt his company had to make. But how can you criticize Steve for making the same decision?"
Money wasn't the only issue clouding Nash's decision. There were rampant rumors he would be involved in a trade for Shaquille O'Neal. Duffy claims the Mavs never brought up sign-and-trade scenarios, but the disparity in the two teams' offers gave Nash the impression Phoenix thought of him as more than just an asset.
"The Suns' presentation was pretty impressive," Duffy said. "The owner, Steve Kerr, Bryan Colangelo and Amare Stoudemire were all there. They gave him a book with a plan for the team. They told him they wanted him to be the leader of the team. They even asked his advice on other free-agent signings with the rest of the cap space they had."
With Nash gone, Cuban quickly overpaid Daniels to the tune of six years, $38 million. While it's easy to see Cuban's point of view from a business perspective, given his free-spending history, this recent display of fiscal restraint is interesting.
Two summers ago Cuban gave Raef LaFrentz a deal worth $69 million. He also has taken on the bad contracts of players like Antawn Jamison, Antoine Walker and Jerry Stackhouse. Maybe Cuban is finally learning his lesson.
"The problem is not just how much money you have to pay," Cuban wrote. "The bigger problem is that you start chewing up roster spots and you lose the ability to add players. For better or worse, because we 'went for it' in making trades, hoping that the deals could get us to a championship, we have ended up with several players who don't get much playing time with us, yet have contracts that are difficult if not impossible to trade."
Nuggets flirting with Kobe
Manu Ginobili
Shooting Guard
San Antonio Spurs
Profile
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM
PPG
RPG
APG
FG%
FT%
77
12.8
4.5
3.8
.418
.802
Manu Ginobili's agent, Herb Rudoy, was expecting to get a big offer from the Denver Nuggets on Monday. Instead, Nuggets GM Kiki Vandeweghe was in L.A. flirting with another free agent shooting guard -- Kobe Bryant.
According to the Rocky Mountain News, Vandeweghe was in Newport Beach on Monday meeting with Bryant and his agent, Rob Pelinka. While the Nuggets have the cash to land Kobe, it's considered a long shot that they actually will. Bryant has been telling teams he prefers to remain in Los Angeles. His legal problems in Colorado's Eagle County also would factor into his decision to decline the Nuggets' overtures.
Assuming talks with Kobe don't lead to anything, expect the Nuggets to consider making a serious offer to Ginobili on Tuesday. According to several league sources, the Nuggets have discussed an offer with Rudoy that would start at a whopping $9 million per year. However, it's also believed that Ginobili's first choice it to remain in San Antonio, a preference he reiterated to the club in an airport visit on Monday afternoon before flying home to Argentina for his wedding.
Rudoy told Insider on Monday he has yet to receive an official offer from any club. He did, however, expect to talk to both the Spurs and Nuggets on Tuesday and was hopeful he'd receive something then. The Jazz likely are out of the hunt for Ginobili after coming to terms with Giricek. So far, the Hawks are the only other team with enough available cap space that has shown interest in Ginobili.
Ginobili is a restricted free agent, giving the Spurs the right to match any offer. The Spurs have room under the cap to do so, but they might be reluctant to commit that type of money to their sixth man.
Around the League
Kobe's meeting with the Nuggets on Monday apparently will be the first of several recruiting sessions. Bryant also has visits scheduled with the Spurs and Clippers this week. The Lakers suffered a blow Monday when coach Mike Krzyzewski turned down a huge offer to become the team's coach. Coach K and Kobe were close, and many within the organization and around the league felt landing the coach would have made re-signing Kobe a lock. The Lakers now have turned their attention to former Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich.
Kenyon Martin
Power Forward
New Jersey Nets
Profile
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM
PPG
RPG
APG
FG%
FT%
65
16.7
9.5
2.5
.488
.684
New Jersey forward Kenyon Martin will visit Denver on Wednesday, Utah on Thursday and Atlanta on Friday as part of his free-agent tour, according to agent Brian Dyke.
The Sixers have made a multi-year offer to Celtics' free-agent center Mark Blount. However, Blount has yet to agree to any offer, according to agent Mark Bartelstein. The Sixers' offer is believed to be for the team's entire mid-level exception. Blount, who had a great relationship with head coach Jim O'Brien in Boston, also has been talking to the Heat.
The Knicks want to sign Jamal Crawford, but agent Aaron Goodwin says that after shopping his client around a bit he has determined the only way New York can land him is via a sign-and-trade. The mid-level exception apparently won't cut it. Goodwin said eight teams have expressed interest, including Minnesota, Sacramento, Dallas, Indiana, Denver and Miami. However, only the Nuggets have enough cash to offer Crawford more than the mid-level. The other seven teams would have to work out sign-and-trade deals, as well.
By Chad Ford
ESPN Insider
After two years of relative fiscal restraint in free agency, it seems GMs have been given blank checks by their owners this summer.
Two of the top available big men -- Mehmet Okur and Adonal Foyle -- agreed to lucrative deals late Monday night, according to sources. Both players are expected to sign multi-year contracts for in excess of $40 million each, reinforcing what has become a growing theme this summer: GMs gone wild.
Steve Nash
Point Guard
Dallas Mavericks
Profile
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM
PPG
RPG
APG
FG%
FT%
78
14.5
3.0
8.8
.470
.916
Of the five players who appear to have deals in place in advance of the July 14 signing period, all five have agreed to contracts that exceed even the most liberal predictions of a month ago. Steve Nash's five-year, $65 million contract was so steep even Mark Cuban wouldn't match it. When Cuban won't match, you pretty much know you've broken the bank.
Cuban responded by offering Marquis Daniels a six-year, $38 million dollar deal. Daniels, who went undrafted last year, played for the league minimum last season. Marcus Camby, who has a long history of injuries, agreed to a long-term deal believed to be worth $50 million to $60 million. Okur and Foyle, both role players on their teams last year, will get multi-year deals with starting salaries in excess of $6.5 million next season.
Of the five, only Nash averaged more than 10 ppg.
The free spending might not be finished. There's talk the Nuggets are readying an offer for Manu Ginobili with a starting salary in excess of $8 million. Ginobili, too, was a sixth man on his team last season. Erick Dampier is looking at lucrative sign-and-trade options, despite a very checkered history. Mark Blount, who didn't have a pulse until mid-season, is looking for a deal in excess of the mid-level exception, and it appears he might get it.
What in the name of Donald Trump is going on? Has the rest of the NBA caught Mark Cuban fever? What happened to the luxury tax fears that were throttling the market.
"This is absolute craziness," one NBA GM told Insider. "Teams are so desperate for help, so desperate for big men and point guards, that they're almost bidding against themselves."
Okur's big deal
The Pistons' Okur, who had a six-year, $40 million deal on the table from Detroit, agreed to a five-year, $50 million offer sheet with the Jazz on Monday evening, according to sources.
Mehmet Okur
Forward-Center
Detroit Pistons
Profile
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM
PPG
RPG
APG
FG%
FT%
71
9.6
5.9
1.0
.463
.775
Okur is a restricted free agent, meaning Detroit has 15 days to match the offer once it's officially signed after July 14. However, because the Pistons own only his early Bird rights and are over the cap, they cannot exceed the mid-level exception to re-sign him.
The Pistons could get far enough under the cap to match the offer if they renounced their rights to Rasheed Wallace, but team president Joe Dumars has said repeatedly he won't do that. That essentially means the only way Okur will be in a Pistons uniform next year is if Wallace decides over the next few weeks that he doesn't want to re-sign in Detroit.
That isn't likely. Sources insist he is leaning heavily toward re-upping in Detroit. Because the Pistons own Wallace's full Bird Rights, they can exceed the salary cap to re-sign him. The Pistons reportedly are on the verge of offering him a five-year, $50 million deal to stay in Detroit.
Rasheed Wallace
Forward-Center
Detroit Pistons
Profile
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM
PPG
RPG
APG
FG%
FT%
68
16.0
6.8
2.3
.436
.736
Monday, Dumars was in Philadelphia, Wallace's hometown, to speak at a basketball clinic put on by 'Sheed.
The loss of Okur isn't considered a devastating one for Detroit. Head coach Larry Brown wasn't a big Okur fan and limited his playing time once Wallace came on board. Getting Okur off the roster also frees up time for last year's No. 2 pick, Darko Milicic, to get much needed playing time.
The offer sheet from the Jazz isn't a big surprise. The team is in desperate need of size and has had luck with other international players in the past. The Suns also were heavily involved in the bidding for Okur but backed off Monday when they saw what Utah was willing to offer. In fact Phoenix might have had no choice after signing Nash. Depending on the final salary cap figure for 2004-05 when it is set in a week, the Suns are expected to have only between $6 million and $7.3 million to spend.
The Jazz, meanwhile, still will have enough cash under the cap to offer a max contract to another player, if they choose. The team also reached a deal with, Gordan Giricek, one of its own restricted free agents, Monday. However, his deal is believed to be much smaller and will not seriously impact the team's cap situation.
Foyle to re-up with the Warriors
Adonal Foyle
Center
Golden State Warriors
Profile
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM
PPG
RPG
APG
FG%
FT%
44
3.1
3.8
0.4
.454
.543
Center Adonal Foyle has agreed to re-sign with the Warriors, according to his agent, Lon Babby. Golden State has offered the center a five-year deal worth $41.6 million that Babby said starts at $6.5 million next season and has a team option in year six for a little more than $10 million.
The news will come as a blow to many teams hoping to land the oft-injured big man. Foyle was thought to be one of the few available big men willing to sign for the mid-level exception. However, Golden State has made him a far more lucrative offer to stay in the Bay.
The team's willingness to sign Foyle to such a big contract likely spells the end of Erick Dampier's tenure with Golden State. Dampier is an unrestricted free agent and has been flirting with several teams, most prominently the Memphis Grizzlies.
Inside Nash's dash for cash
The big offers to Okur and Foyle have shock value, but nothing tops what the Suns did with Nash. No one in Dallas, especially Mark Cuban, can get over the Suns' huge offer. Cuban, on his personal weblog, wrote a detailed account of the negotiations with Nash and why he ultimately declined to match Phoenix's offer:
Phoenix's offer to Steve Nash took Mark Cuban by surprise, and he wasn't happy.
"The morning of July 1, as I got ready to go to Steve's, I had determined that I would offer Steve 9 million a year for 4 years, with a 5th year with half guaranteed, but he could get the 5th year fully guaranteed by playing enough games and minutes the year before. I was guessing we would end up doing 60 games and 20 minutes per game to get there. I thought it was very fair."
However Phoenix came back with an offer of five years fully guaranteed at an average of $11 million per, with a sixth year partially guaranteed. Phoenix's offer starts Nash at just under $10 million per year, with 10 percent annual raises.
Apparently, that was too much for Cuban.
"About dinner time that night I got a call. Donnie said I had to call Steve. I did. To make a long story short, Steve said he got an incredible offer from the Suns. He wouldn't tell me the exact numbers, but every time I said a number, he said it was more. He said they flew down a whole group of people, including Amare Stoudemire to recruit him. He was calling because he felt like he owed me the opportunity to match it. I was stunned. I told him to give me a little bit of time to think it over and I would call him back. He was fine with that.
"I called Donnie and told him the range of numbers that I had given Steve, and that the offer was higher. I think Donnie was as stunned as I was. Based on the ranges I had thrown out to Steve, this might not have been a max out deal, but it sure sounded like it was close. There was no way I was going to match it. The amounts were higher and the length was longer than I was willing to go for all the reasons I wrote about."
Cuban cites several factors for his decision not to retain Nash, among them age and durability. The feeling was that Nash, 31, would be making so much at the end of his career that his contract would be untradeable. Cuban also noted that Nash had played in a lot of pain the past few years and he was unsure how long he'd hold up. Finally, Cuban devoted a significant amount of space in his blog railing on Bill Duffy, Nash's agent. According to Cuban, they don't have a good relationship, and it sounds as if Cuban believes Duffy was steering Nash away from Dallas.
Duffy laughed at the assertion.
"I work for Nash, not the Mavericks," Duffy told Insider. "My job was pretty basic -- to put Steve in the best possible position, financially. I think had the Mavericks matched Phoenix's offer, Steve would've stayed in Dallas. However, the Suns' offer was significantly higher, and Steve has a history there, too. His mother lives there; he has a high respect for the organization; and he believes that the team they're building will be a real contender. I respect Mark for making a business decision that he felt his company had to make. But how can you criticize Steve for making the same decision?"
Money wasn't the only issue clouding Nash's decision. There were rampant rumors he would be involved in a trade for Shaquille O'Neal. Duffy claims the Mavs never brought up sign-and-trade scenarios, but the disparity in the two teams' offers gave Nash the impression Phoenix thought of him as more than just an asset.
"The Suns' presentation was pretty impressive," Duffy said. "The owner, Steve Kerr, Bryan Colangelo and Amare Stoudemire were all there. They gave him a book with a plan for the team. They told him they wanted him to be the leader of the team. They even asked his advice on other free-agent signings with the rest of the cap space they had."
With Nash gone, Cuban quickly overpaid Daniels to the tune of six years, $38 million. While it's easy to see Cuban's point of view from a business perspective, given his free-spending history, this recent display of fiscal restraint is interesting.
Two summers ago Cuban gave Raef LaFrentz a deal worth $69 million. He also has taken on the bad contracts of players like Antawn Jamison, Antoine Walker and Jerry Stackhouse. Maybe Cuban is finally learning his lesson.
"The problem is not just how much money you have to pay," Cuban wrote. "The bigger problem is that you start chewing up roster spots and you lose the ability to add players. For better or worse, because we 'went for it' in making trades, hoping that the deals could get us to a championship, we have ended up with several players who don't get much playing time with us, yet have contracts that are difficult if not impossible to trade."
Nuggets flirting with Kobe
Manu Ginobili
Shooting Guard
San Antonio Spurs
Profile
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM
PPG
RPG
APG
FG%
FT%
77
12.8
4.5
3.8
.418
.802
Manu Ginobili's agent, Herb Rudoy, was expecting to get a big offer from the Denver Nuggets on Monday. Instead, Nuggets GM Kiki Vandeweghe was in L.A. flirting with another free agent shooting guard -- Kobe Bryant.
According to the Rocky Mountain News, Vandeweghe was in Newport Beach on Monday meeting with Bryant and his agent, Rob Pelinka. While the Nuggets have the cash to land Kobe, it's considered a long shot that they actually will. Bryant has been telling teams he prefers to remain in Los Angeles. His legal problems in Colorado's Eagle County also would factor into his decision to decline the Nuggets' overtures.
Assuming talks with Kobe don't lead to anything, expect the Nuggets to consider making a serious offer to Ginobili on Tuesday. According to several league sources, the Nuggets have discussed an offer with Rudoy that would start at a whopping $9 million per year. However, it's also believed that Ginobili's first choice it to remain in San Antonio, a preference he reiterated to the club in an airport visit on Monday afternoon before flying home to Argentina for his wedding.
Rudoy told Insider on Monday he has yet to receive an official offer from any club. He did, however, expect to talk to both the Spurs and Nuggets on Tuesday and was hopeful he'd receive something then. The Jazz likely are out of the hunt for Ginobili after coming to terms with Giricek. So far, the Hawks are the only other team with enough available cap space that has shown interest in Ginobili.
Ginobili is a restricted free agent, giving the Spurs the right to match any offer. The Spurs have room under the cap to do so, but they might be reluctant to commit that type of money to their sixth man.
Around the League
Kobe's meeting with the Nuggets on Monday apparently will be the first of several recruiting sessions. Bryant also has visits scheduled with the Spurs and Clippers this week. The Lakers suffered a blow Monday when coach Mike Krzyzewski turned down a huge offer to become the team's coach. Coach K and Kobe were close, and many within the organization and around the league felt landing the coach would have made re-signing Kobe a lock. The Lakers now have turned their attention to former Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich.
Kenyon Martin
Power Forward
New Jersey Nets
Profile
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM
PPG
RPG
APG
FG%
FT%
65
16.7
9.5
2.5
.488
.684
New Jersey forward Kenyon Martin will visit Denver on Wednesday, Utah on Thursday and Atlanta on Friday as part of his free-agent tour, according to agent Brian Dyke.
The Sixers have made a multi-year offer to Celtics' free-agent center Mark Blount. However, Blount has yet to agree to any offer, according to agent Mark Bartelstein. The Sixers' offer is believed to be for the team's entire mid-level exception. Blount, who had a great relationship with head coach Jim O'Brien in Boston, also has been talking to the Heat.
The Knicks want to sign Jamal Crawford, but agent Aaron Goodwin says that after shopping his client around a bit he has determined the only way New York can land him is via a sign-and-trade. The mid-level exception apparently won't cut it. Goodwin said eight teams have expressed interest, including Minnesota, Sacramento, Dallas, Indiana, Denver and Miami. However, only the Nuggets have enough cash to offer Crawford more than the mid-level. The other seven teams would have to work out sign-and-trade deals, as well.
