SEATTLE – Privately, patiently, the Seattle SuperSonics have begun negotiations with Ray Allen on a contract extension that could, if all goes well, keep the All-Star guard with the team for several more seasons.
Allen, Seattle’s leading scorer since he arrived in a trade with the Milwaukee Bucks two seasons ago, is entering the final year of a multiyear contract that will pay him $14.625 million in the upcoming NBA season. His uncertain future will be one of the most significant questions facing the Sonics in 2004-05.
Yes, Allen’s status is highly important and also highly hush-hush. Sonics general manager Rick Sund and Allen’s new agent, Lon Babby, have agreed to keep their discussions private, which means there will probably not be public updates from either side. Talks could conceivably continue through much of next season, though a new deal could happen quickly once both parties decide to get it done.
Sund did confirm that he had met with Babby last week to initiate the process, but he would not say when and where the next round of meetings would take place.
Babby is vacationing this week and was not available for comment. Allen could also not be reached, but in a recent interview with the Tacoma News-Tribune newspaper he said he has a wait-and-see attitude.
“I’ve tried my best not to worry about (what might happen),” he said. “And I don’t worry about it. That’s why I hired an agent, just so we can be on top of certain things. When there were trade rumors he told me what was possible out there and what was going on.
“Right now it is about trying to get that contract extension and remain in that (Sonics) uniform. Whatever it is going to take to do that, me and my agent have to see right now.”
Talks between the Sonics and Allen are expected to be cautious and deliberate, which is why several months could pass before an extension is announced, if it is announced at all.
The Sonics, for example, will want to see how the season unfolds, and in particular how well Allen, one of the team’s oldest players with Antonio Daniels and Vitaly Potapenko – all are 29 – fits with his younger teammates. If the Sonics are going to invest big dollars in him, they certainly want to know he is committed to them for another few building seasons.
How much will it take to keep Allen in Seattle? If he signs an extension before the end of his current contract (as opposed to signing as an offseason free agent), the most he could get would be five years for around $100 million. Generally speaking, though, free-agent contracts are coming down and the Sonics almost certainly will not go that high. More likely, the team would offer something in the neighborhood of $75-80 million over five years.
Allen, of course, has the option of playing out his current deal and becoming an unrestricted free agent. That could present a fine career opportunity, a la former teammate Brent Barry, who left the Sonics earlier in the summer to sign with the San Antonio Spurs, a perennial NBA contender. Barry’s new contract, though, was modest compared to what Allen will command. And the fact is – and the Sonics surely know this – none of the league’s current powers will likely have the kind of space under the salary cap to give Allen the kind of money he could get if he stays in Seattle.
The Sonics want Allen back, assuming he wants to be here, but if he departs the team would have more than $20 million in cap space (assuming 2005 free agents Potapenko and Jerome James are not resigned) heading into the next offseason. That would be a considerable asset heading into next summer’s free-agent derby.
The picture, then, remains a bit fuzzy for the Sonics and for Allen. Both sides have good reasons to proceed slowly, which is why these negotiations might be ongoing for several months, giving all concerned time to see how things unfold.
For his part, Allen would like to see Seattle get better.
“I’m not happy about the direction (of the team) right now,” he told the News-Tribune. “The team we have right now. I won’t place judgment. I still have a lot of faith that we will hopefully make the right decisions and they will put together a good team in this next coming month. Anything can happen.”
And if the Sonics show no signs of being much improved in 2004-05?
“I guess it depends,” he said. “It depends on what the dollars are, what the contract is, everything. I’m not going to go in there with my mind made up about anything.”
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