4. Is this the end of Andray & Andrei?
The two most interesting Nets bench players may not be around next season. Andray Blatche and Andrei Kirilenko, who I’ve long wanted to star in a Big Brother-esque reality show called “Andray & Andrei,” will both have options in the free agent market this year.
Blatche told reporters at the team’s exit interviews Thursday that he would decline his player option, worth about $1.4 million, to explore his options. Blatche was amnestied by the Washington Wizards at the end of the 2012 season with three years and $25 million remaining on his contract, and they still owe him about $8.5 million in 2014-15 that he’ll get paid no matter what.
How much the Wizards actually pay Blatche relies on a complicated “offset formula”: since Blatche signed as an unrestricted free agent and not claimed off waivers, Blatche’s contract with the Nets isn’t just subtracted from what he’s owed the Wizards. Instead, the Wizards will owe him his 2014-15 Wizards salary ($8,471,339), minus half the difference between a league minimum salary and whatever contract Blatche signs. That means that the smaller a contract Blatche gets, the more the Wizards will have to pay him… which has been a motivation for Blatche before.
Kirilenko’s contract situation isn’t as complicated, but he also has a chance to explore his options after remaining non-committal about next season. The 6’9″ Russian forward signed a two-year contract last offseason for the taxpayer mid-level exception (about $3.2 million per season), with the second year a player option. Kirilenko’s contract was a significant pay cut from the $10 million he turned down from the Minnesota Timberwolves, and he might look to find a contract closer to his previous salary.
Then again, Kirilenko might not have earned a contract better than what he’ll get from the Nets in the offseason. Kirilenko missed 37 of 82 games in the regular season with various injuries, averaging career-lows in minutes per game and points per minute. The market might not be big for a 33-year-old who has openly talked about retirement in the next few years.
My guess: Blatche explores the market and signs a deal for around the mid-level exception elsewhere, while Kirilenko accepts his player option and spends another year in Brooklyn.
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