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David West will become a free agent, opting out of a $7.5 million contract with the New Orleans Hornets.
David West will opt out of the final year of his contract with the New Orleans Hornets and become a free agent, reports Jimmy Smith of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. West suffered a major knee injury in late March and missed the Hornets' NBA Playoffs series against the L.A. Lakers. But he's on track for recovery, and tells Smith he'll take the plunge and opt out of a guaranteed $7.5 million to become one of the biggest names on the free agent rolls.
West is one of two major free agents for the Hornets, who will also watch Carl Landry, who ably helped paper over West's absence late in the season, become a restricted free agent. New Orleans's decisions on the market will draw extra scrutiny given that the Hornets franchise remains owned by the league, which is to say it is owned by the 29 other NBA franchise owners. There is widespread community interest in keeping the Hornets' books clean in advance of a hopefully profitable sale; long-term contracts could damage value to some degree, especially for older players (West will turn 31 before the season begins) coming off of major surgeries.
Plenty of teams who feel themselves to be on the brink of contention could target West, though the cap situation for all teams is in question given ongoing labor struggles. It seems highly unlikely free agency will begin any time soon, let alone the normal July 1 start date.
For more on the Hornets, visit At The Hive.
Pacers, Nets Interested In Hornets' Free Agent David West, According To Report
David West has decided to opt out of the final year of his contract with the New Orleans Hornets, according to reports. His reasons? He wants a chance to win big, and is looking for the best opportunity to do so. That could come with the Hornets in the end; several reports quote West's agent as saying he could return to New Orleans after gauging the market. While the Hornets are capped out thanks to sizable contracts for Chris Paul, Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza, under the current salary system the team could keep West because it owns his Bird rights.
But it stands to reason that West is looking for a team better than New Orleans' first-round-and-out level. That could be difficult to find, as most of the true contenders are thoroughly capped out (Magic, Spurs) or set at power forward (Celtics, Heat, Lakers, Mavericks, Bulls). (In the case of the latter, most are also capped out. Much of the league is capped out.) So what teams could West actually end up seeing the cash from?
Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the Indiana Pacers and New Jersey Nets will register interest in the 30-year-old power forward. The Pacers are guard- and wing-heavy; of the team's top five players going into next season, only one (Roy Hibbert) is a big man. The team has Tyler Hansbrough and Josh McRoberts at power forward, but West has been a much better performer than either in recent years, and in addition to new point guard George Hill (acquired in a draft day trade with the San Antonio Spurs for Kawhi Leonard, the No. 15 pick), could vault Indiana from "intriguing eighth seed" to "frightful mid-lister."
The Nets have to deal with Kris Humphries, himself an unrestricted free agent. While West is the better player overall, New Jersey will have to weigh costs (West's salary will be much greater than Hump's) and fit next to big man of the future Brook Lopez. It's also worth noting that a Deron Williams-David West pick-and-pop seems unstoppable as a Chris Paul-David West one, in theory.
Jun 27 10:02a by Tom Ziller - 0 comments