The contract negotiations between Baron Davis and the Warriors have gotten off to a rocky start. The initial offer has been described as both "insulting" and "practically hurtful" to the team's star, so much so that it's now believed to be a 50-50 proposition whether or not Davis will remain with the Dubs beyond next season.
In fact, the sides were so far apart in what they perceive as Davis' worth that Ramasar brought up the specter of Davis using his opt-out clause to void the final year on his current deal and become an unrestricted free agent as of July 1.
"After sitting down with the Warriors organization (Thursday) regarding Baron's future, I don't know what direction the Warriors are going," Ramasar told the Times.
A source close to Davis said it's now a 50-50 chance that the Warriors' captain ... will not remain beyond next season after various contract offers that were so low as to be practically hurtful.
Some of this is simply standard agent-speak when a negotiation isn't going his client's way, but then again, Baron and/or his agent may have some unrealistic expectations. Tim Kawakami does an excellent job breaking it down, and the short version goes something like this: Baron's under contract for $17.8M next season, a wild overpayment for someone at his age with his skill set. The Warriors aren't going to give him much more than a two year extension beyond that at $8 or $9 million per. So Baron's looking at an offer of a three-year deal (including next year) totaling in the neighborhood of $34M.
Is this an insult? Maybe it is and maybe it isn't. But the Warriors aren't likely to negotiate beyond that point until Baron's opt out date of June 30 has passed. It would be a pretty huge gamble for Baron to opt out and leave almost $18M on the table next season, considering any deal that he could get from another team is likely to pay him substantially less than that. And at this point, it's a gamble that the Warriors don't believe that he'll be willing to take.
