It's an insider story. tl;dr is Klay is not among the top 20 ranked free agents. Follows the pattern we've been seeing of A) no advanced models liking what Klay has been doing and (more importantly) B) no advanced models liking what Klay can contribute in is age 34+ seasons.
Criteria:
Let's take a look at this year's top players available by my multiyear SCHOENE player projections, which factor in performance over the past three seasons and the development of similar players at the same age as well as utilizing adjusted plus-minus data from Krishna Narsu to incorporate value not captured by the box score.
Rankings:
- LeBron James: 24.4
- Paul George: 23.3
- Tyrese Maxey: 21.6
- Immanuel Quickley: 20.9
- James Harden: 18.4
- De'Anthony Melton: 17.2
- Pascal Siakam: 16.6
- OG Anunoby: 13.8
- DeMar DeRozan: 13.8
- Malik Monk: 12.6
- Nic Claxton: 12.1
- Tobias Harris: 11.9
- Gary Trent Jr.: 11.8
- Gary Payton II: 11.8
- D'Angelo Russell: 11.6
- Miles Bridges: 11.6
- Buddy Hield: 11.5
- Tyus Jones: 11.2
- Isaiah Hartenstein: 11.1
- Markelle Fultz: 9.2
If he was a FA, would ANY team give him a 2 year, $54m contract with a $30m player option?
$84 mil for being objectively one of the worst starters in the league last year. Hell no. That's a negative asset.
When you realize the core is broken, you're not landing a star player, and you're stuck with Wiggins who already was disinterested in playing before you withheld him from playing in the Olympics
warriors