Written by Tim Bontemps at Washington Post.com
The Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night offered a four-year, $106 million contract to restricted free agent Otto Porter Jr., the maximum they could give the Washington Wizards forward, following a meeting between the two sides the day before.
Because the NBA is still in its moratorium to begin free agency, the offer won’t become official until noon Thursday, when deals are first allowed to be signed. And the Wizards would then have until 11:59 p.m. Saturday to match the offer and retain Porter’s services. If Washington chooses to match the offer — something several sources reiterated Tuesday that the Wizards have every intention of doing — the Wizards would keep Porter and he would not go to Brooklyn.
The Sacramento Kings had also offered Porter a maximum contract after meeting with him Sunday. But after the Kings agreed to a pair of big-money contracts with a pair of veterans early Tuesday — first a three-year, $57 million deal with point guard George Hill and then a two-year, $24 million deal with big man Zach Randolph — combined with a prior three-year, $27 million agreement with Serbian guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, whose rights they acquired in a trade last year with the Phoenix Suns, they no longer had the cap space to offer Porter a maximum deal.
When those moves happened, the expectation was that Porter had told Sacramento he wasn’t going to sign there — meaning that he had another maximum offer in hand from a more desirable team. And, as expected, it turned out the Nets were that team, with their offer coming after their own meeting with Porter.
Now the ball is in Washington’s court. And, barring a reversal from what several sources have maintained for months, Porter will return to the Wizards as the team’s highest-paid player next season.
To continue reading this article, click here.
